


Empty Sky, Empty Heart

by Kittendealer



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Chloe is trying to cope with her loss, Dark Prophecy, Demons want to roam the Earth, F/M, Father Kinley is still making problems, Lilith has dark plans, Lucifer comes back to Earth, More people learn about Lucifer, Trouble is on the horizon, Will he be able to stay?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-09-25
Packaged: 2020-03-01 01:55:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 55,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18790666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kittendealer/pseuds/Kittendealer
Summary: **Spoilers Alert Post Season 4!** My take on what could happen after Lucifer’s departure and how he could come back to Earth, and to Chloe.Chloe opened her eyes to find him gone…Gone from her life.She felt as empty as the dark sky above.





	1. The Weight of Pain

**Author's Note:**

> I told myself that I wouldn’t do that, that I wouldn’t write a fic after the season finally. But I found myself unable to handle the onslaught of emotions weighting down on me over the last few days. So I decided to exorcise my demons and write something after all. I hope you’ll enjoy it.

Chloe opened her eyes to find him gone…  
   
Gone from her life.  
   
She felt as empty as the dark sky above.  
   
Her heart was ripped apart and bleeding, leaving her choking on air that would not reach her lungs.   
   
Who knew such a devastating feeling could exist? And how could anyone survive that?  
   
How could she survive without him in her life?  
   
The dizzying pain that overtook her finally reached a braking point that was simply too much to bear and she fell on her knees, shaking, and sobbing uncontrollably.    
   
Her love was gone...  
   
Gone forever...  
   
In the end, they only shared a moment together. Only one moment, with their hearts and souls wide open.  
   
She loved him and he loved her. It was that simple. Had always been that simple.  
   
How could she have been so blind? Why had she fought against it for so long? How could she have allowed them to lose that much time?  
   
She would give anything to get that time back.  
   
 _Anything!_  
   
They could have been together right from the start.  
   
 _They should have been together._  
   
She should have listened to her heart, not to her fears.  
   
But now was too late, and she knew she would regret that missed opportunity for the rest of her life, and suffer the loss of him until she drew her last breathe.  
   
She couldn’t say how long she stayed on the ground, crying and gasping for air, shivering cold at the emptiness left in her soul.  
   
When the world came back into focus around her, it felt alien without him in it, colorless, lifeless.  
   
With a strength she didn’t believe she still had, she at last raised herself up on shaky legs. She slowly turned her back on the balcony where he last stood, with those magnificent wings of his.  
   
His angel wings.  
   
Because whatever he called himself, her love was an angel as much as he was the Devil. He’d proven it to her tonight and to himself. Not that she had doubted it anymore. He’d finally embraced both sides of his being, fully accepting himself for what he had become, as she already had.  
   
And the sacrifice he just did to protect the world, to protect Charlie, and herself..., it was just unthinkable!  
   
To anyone else, such selflessness could have come up as a surprise, but not to her. She always knew that Lucifer Morningstar was that kind of person.  
   
In a daze, Chloe crossed the penthouse before looking at Lucifer’s place one last time as the elevator’s doors closed that chapter of her life forever.  
 

* * *

  
   
It wasn’t a conscious decision that brought Chloe to that door this late in the night but the feeling of drowning that submerged her and pushed her to reach out for help unless she suffocated under the onslaught of pain and despair.  
   
The door opened almost as soon as she knocked on it. At first, she couldn’t utter a word as she gazed emptily into Amenadiel’s sad eyes. The pressure weighting down over her chest was still too much to handle. But then the words formed on her lips and came out in a trembling whisper.  
   
"I lost him! He’s gone..."  
   
The moisture already shining in Amenadiel’s eyes gathered to form a single tear that slid along his cheek.  
   
"I’m so sorry, Chloe. I wish there had been another way."  
   
He stepped aside to let her come in then closed the door behind her. The absence of surprise in the way he reacted to her news left her perplexed. It all came clear when she got a look at Linda’s and Maze’s tearful expressions down in the living room.  
   
"You knew? You all knew he was going away and you didn’t do anything?" Anger was slowly replacing the devastation in her heart.  
   
"Chloe...," Amenadiel choke out, "you saw him. You know there was nothing anyone could say that would have made him change his mind."  
   
He was right of course, and she knew it. Even she had not been able to shake up Lucifer’s resolves to leave. Yet the need to blame someone, _anyone_ , for her loss, was too strong. If not Amenadiel, then God? Everything could probably be put on Him in the end.  
   
Then a painful realization pierced her straight through the heart; _she_ , was the one responsible for everything! _She_ had brought all of this on their heads with her incapacity to accept sooner Lucifer for who he was. If she hadn’t conspired against him with Father Kinley, none of that would have happened.  
   
She bent over with an agonizing moan that ripped her apart. In an instant, Amenadiel was there to catch her before she could fall on the ground. He half carried her to the couch where Linda enveloped her in a comforting embrace.  
   
Chloe desperately clanged to her friend as she cried her life out. She felt like she would never recover her countenance and that the blinding pain would consume her. She _wanted_ it to consume her, so her suffering would end at last. Unfortunately, it did not.  
   
At some point, she became aware of Linda’s hand stroking her back soothingly. Her friend was also rocking her softly in her arms. Somehow it did help a bit, to feel that she was not alone with her pain.  
   
Eyes still closed and heavy with tears, Chloe also became conscious of a conversation going on between Maze and Amenadiel.  
   
The demon sounded upset to the point of bursting out. "You _WILL_ bring me down to Hell!" She commanded.  
   
"Maze! Have you been listening to me? Lucifer specifically told me not to. He wants you to be free, and he was hoping you would keep an eye on Chloe and Beatrice. He needs to know you’re all safe so he can focus on his task. Don’t take that solace from him!"  
   
Chloe heard Maze roar in fury. Yet the demon stopped arguing and walked out like a storm.  
   
It reminded Chloe that Lucifer was alone down there, with no one to trust, no one to have his back. How lonely that must be for him! The ache in her heart redoubled at the thought of his predicament.  
   
She thought what she was feeling was Hell, but it was probably nothing to compare with what Lucifer was experiencing and would keep enduring for eternity...  
   
Her sobbing started anew in spite of herself. It was only after what seemed like hours that she felt Linda lay her down on the couch and place a blanked over her.    
   
Feeling completely drained and numb from too much crying, Chloe finally succumbed to the darkness, hoping that she could join Lucifer in dreams, which was now the only place where she would ever see her love, ever again.  
 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was constantly on the verge of tears as I wrote this. I may be a masochist when you think about it, but I guess putting my emotions into words helped me deal with that terrible cliff-hanger. I just hope it helped you too. But fear not, I plan on continuing this little story until I can find a certain sense closure. I already have in mind a great way to bring Lucifer back on Earth...


	2. Breaking Point

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is another small chapter to pursue this little story. I usually write much longer chapters, but I finally opted for posting more often since we are all still in a very emotional place since this season’s ending and that we could use the distraction with stories like this one. I hope you’ll enjoy it.
> 
>  

 

Chloe tried to get back to work the next morning, feeling that she needed most of all to keep her mind distracted or otherwise she would crumble into pieces and never get herself back together. As it turned out, she’d definitely overestimated her capacity to handle her emotions.  
   
Her heart started doing summersaults as soon as she saw the case file on her desk. She should have known that The Mayan slaughter case would end up in her hands.  
   
Dan appeared at her side at that moment.  
   
"You won’t believe the kind of case we just got, Chlo." He sounded excited.  
   
"Pretty sure I can guess just right," she mumbled under her breath.  
   
Dan added with a half annoyed tone, "and I’m sure Lucifer will be delighted with that one."  
   
Seeing her face drop, he inquired. "Where is he by the way? Shouldn’t he be already here by now? Still making everything come first before his responsibilities?"  
   
Chloe took a few deep breathes to steady herself and not snap at him. She tried to answer him as steadily as she could. Still, her words came out way too shakily for her taste.  
   
"Actually, Lucifer won’t be coming back. He had to leave town for an extended amount of time. A family business he had to take care of." She kept her gaze low, unable to look him in the eyes.  
   
Dan’s reaction surprised her with its intensity. "He obviously bullshitted you with that family thing while the hard truth is that he ditched you again! When will you finally learn that Lucifer Morningstar can’t be trusted?"  
   
 _That’s_ what had made her snap out of herself. She raised a killer gaze at him, almost snarling with hatred at his despicable words against the man she loved. She was shaking with anger as she spit the truth in Dan’s face.  
   
"Lucifer Morningstar is the most trustworthy and the best man I have ever had the chance to know. And I... I loved him!" she ended in a sob.  
   
Dan was left speechless for a moment, mouth agape in shock. The few officers into earshot had to have heard part of their conversation because she could see them shifting uncomfortably, avoiding to look in her direction.  
   
She couldn’t take it anymore and ran away toward the back exit before she could burst into tears in front of all the precinct. Dan caught up with her and tossed her inside an empty interrogation room. She didn’t resist him. He wanted a confrontation? Then let’s bring it on!  
   
"Chloe! You can’t be serious! You have no idea what that man is capable of, and what he’s still hiding from us."  
   
Chloe rounded up on him and stick a finger into his chest for emphasis. "For your knowledge, I know everything there is to know about Lucifer Morningstar. You wanna know what kind of man he is?" She didn’t let Dan time to answer and just went on with her ranting. "Lucifer is the kind of man who gives up everything he has so the people he cares about would be safe. You have no idea what he had to sacrifice to protect us all, to protect me, and even your sorry ass. So don’t talk to me about responsibilities." She was panting with uncontrolled fury.  
   
Dan looked at her in confusion and what could even be... pity? "Are you listening to yourself Chloe? You don’t make any sense."  
   
At that moment, Chloe’s sanity seemed to have reached its breaking point. Before she realised what she was doing, the truth spilled out of her mouth like an avalanche. "You want for things to make sense? Then make sense of that! Lucifer Morningstar is the _actual_ Devil! I know because I’ve seen him, Devil form and all. But that’s not all he is. He is also an angel of God who had to embrace his Devil side once more even though he despised it, and return to Hell to contain a demon invasion that would have brought destruction to the world."  
   
Dan looked at her as if unsure whether he should believe her or send her into an asylum. "Chloe..."  
   
All the fight left her suddenly and her eyes filled up with tears. Lips trembling, she continued her confession in a soft voice. "I loved him, and he loved me... But even that couldn’t keep him from facing his responsibilities. _That’s_ the kind of man Lucifer Morningstar is."  
   
Chloe’s teared up gaze held Dan’s steadily, to force the truth into this tick head of his. He had to know she wasn’t prone to delusions. She could almost hear the gears turning into his mind, trying to reconcile everything he thought he knew about Lucifer with what he just heard. He opened his mouth a couple of times as if about to talk, yet no sound came out.  
   
Chloe shook her head softly in understanding. "I know it sounds crazy, believe me I’ve been there, but it’s all true. And the case we just got will give you proofs of that. I know all about it because I was there with Lucifer last night. A group of people was killed then possessed by demons who wanted to invade Earth. The corpses fell limp in the Mayan’s main room after Lucifer commanded the demons to get back to Hell. So I guess what you will discover there will look like a huge staging of dead bodies who were not killed there but were arranged as if they had fallen on their own. That should give you the proofs you need. Though I don’t think it would be wise to write that in a report. We’ll have to come up with a credible explanation to close that case."  
   
She saw in Dan’s bemused expression that in spite of himself, he was starting to believe her.  
   
Her emotional outburst had left her feeling utterly drained out and fragile. She didn’t think she could face dealing with that case while trying to keep herself together. She was already barely hanging on as it was. Why was she even trying?  
   
Chloe lifted her hands up in surrender. "You know what? I can’t do this. The case is yours. I’m out of here!"  
   
Dan had feebly tried to make her change her mind, but without much insistence. Chloe headed straight to the new Lieutenant’s office to let him know that she was taking an unpaid leave of absence for a month. It barely felt long enough to her, but it would have to do. Longer than that and she’d risk getting fired, not that she wasn’t tempted to just drop everything at the moment. Still, she knew she wasn’t in a right state of mind to make any life-changing decision right now.  
   
As she’d just learned from Amenadiel this morning, money wouldn’t be a problem for her anymore. She could indeed resign from her job and never work another day for the rest of her life and she would still have enough money to live wealthily for a few lifetimes. That’s how much money Lucifer had left her in a bank account registered in her name, along with an exuberant trust fund for Beatrice.  
   
Apparently, Lucifer had taken the time to call his lawyer a little before he left to arrange the transfers. He’d apparently left most of his assets to Charlie, among them Lux. Amenadiel would be the one to manage it until the Nephilim’s majority. As Amenadiel explained, Lucifer first thought of leaving Lux to her, but was afraid it would be more a burden with all the responsibilities involved. Though, he’d been hoping that she would keep his penthouse for herself and live there with Beatrice. She still wasn’t sure how she felt about that idea. Just thinking of getting back there with him gone was enough to twist her insides into knots. Living there was just unconceivable at the moment.  
   
Upon first learning of Lucifer’s gift to her, she’d been reluctant to accept it. She certainly didn’t need that much money. What made her accept it in the end was knowing that it would appease Lucifer’s mind to know that she’d be taken care of. She knew Amenadiel would let him know, and all that mattered to Chloe at the moment was giving as much comfort to Lucifer as she could.  
   
After a brief stop at Lucifer’s lawyer’s office to sign some papers and get a few new bank and credit cards, Chloe only briefly stopped by her place to get some things together before heading to the airport. At least she had the presence of mind to let Dan know of her departure and to give him and Amenadiel the means to reach her if needed. She took one of the first flights available, her only real criteria being that her destination should have beaches. It felt like the best way to feel closer to Lucifer.  
   
She ended up in the Cayman Islands where she passed her time walking along the shore, thinking of Lucifer and what could have been if they’d really had the opportunity of a lifetime together.  
 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will find Chloe back home and you’ll finally learn more about my ideas for Lucifer’s return. Let me know if you liked this little addition.


	3. Dark Prophecy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so excited for you to discover the beginning of the plot I created and that will bring Lucifer back to Earth. I worked hard to release this quickly while we are still all under the spell of that incredible season 4. Enjoy my friends!

Chloe was sipping at her third whisky of the afternoon, comfortably sitting on a terrace next to the sea. She liked coming here to listen to the soothing sound of the waves brushing against the beach. It helped her regain some sense of connection with the world around her.  
   
The last few weeks had felt like a long horrible nightmare. She had willingly put herself into a hell loop in which she was reliving her loss and anguished over everything that could have been if only she had not acted like such a fool. It was without talking of the excruciating pain she felt just thinking about what Lucifer could be living in Hell. She’d drowned herself in a deep pit of despair until she just couldn’t take it anymore. She realized then that either she tried accepting her loss, or the pain would eat her up. That’s when she started on the long path towards acceptance. She was far from there yet, and everything still mostly felt unreal to her, but she thought she was improving. A little. At least she wasn’t constantly crying her life out anymore.  
   
To say the truth, she believed that she could never fully accept having lost Lucifer. A love like that only came once in a life time, if ever. There was no way she would turn her back on that love and try to forget about it. Besides, she felt that her love for him and the knowledge that he loved her in return were making her stronger. What she’d come to accept though, was that the pain would probably never go away, that the hole she felt in her soul could simply never be filled again. What she was trying to do now, was learn to live with that pain, to live without him. But it was so hard!  
   
Linda would probably say that her coping mechanisms were not at their best right now, and Chloe would have to agree. However, she thought that the fact she was not drinking before noon anymore had to be an improvement. Still, she realized that she drank herself into oblivion way too often. But hey! She was doing her best here.  
   
She knew she should probably try to distract herself with healthier activities. After all, her luxurious hotel didn’t lack in that area. She’d checked herself into one of the most expensive hotel there was. She thought Lucifer would approve. She could almost hear him in her mind. _Live a little, Detective!_ Problem was, she still didn’t feel like doing anything other than sit or walk the beaches, and think of him of course. She knew it was pathetic, but didn’t really care.  
   
Over the last few days, her thoughts had slowly drifted towards better memories of the good times they shared together instead of agonizing over the worse parts of their story. Those memories were the only thing keeping her together. However, she knew she couldn’t always live in the past and that at some point she would have to face the hard reality and go back to her life. She just wasn’t sure to be ready for it yet.  
   
A movement in front of her caught her attention and she lifted her gaze to the man taking a seat at her table.  
   
"Bonjour, Beautiful!" He had a lovely French accent.  
   
Chloe lowered her sunglasses to better look at the man. In his early thirties, he was downright beautiful with his mid-length blond hair and sparkling blue eyes. Elegant, he was wearing a simple white shirt with beige shorts. In any other circumstances, she would have probably been charmed.  
   
The counter effect of not being in tears all the time for the last few days had been that she was now assailed by suitors of all kinds. From the waiters to the richest clients in the area. An obviously very wealthy young woman like herself, single at that, seemed to be drawing attention easily around here."  
   
"Did you really think that would work to get me?" She snapped at him, annoyed.  
   
"I’m sorry if I offended you. But I couldn’t stand seeing you so sad. So I thought I could try to make you smile." He really was charming.  
   
Reading people was one thing Chloe was good at, and she though he was looking sincere. And he _was_ very pretty. She seriously considered for a moment the possibility of distracting herself with him. Maybe having meaningless sex could do her some good. How wrong could it be to look for some comfort, aside from the fact that it wouldn’t be a healthier distraction than to drink herself to death as she’d done since arriving here?  
   
She sighed, disheartened. Maybe it wouldn’t be so wrong, but it did feel wrong. She couldn’t envision a time when she would be able to invite someone else into her bed. She’d never even made love to Lucifer, but she knew she would never be able to truly give herself to someone else. She really was doomed!  
   
Chloe took the edge off her voice to sound more amiable. "I’m flattered by your intentions, really. You look like a nice guy. But there’s only one man who could make me smile, and that isn’t you. If you’ll excuse me." And she left without letting him another chance to try and win her.  
   
As she walked back towards her room, she realised that it was true. She would not find back her smile here. Aside from Lucifer, there was only one other person who could probably help sooth her bleeding heart and eventually bring her to ever smile again. She’d cut herself from her loved ones for way too long already. It was probably time for her to go back home, to her daughter, who she needed most at the moment, and who certainly needed her too. It was great time that she stopped avoiding reality and that she tried to piece up her life back together.  
 

* * *

  
   
She arrived back in LA in the middle of the next morning on a Tuesday, and decided to go straight to Linda’s to visit her and little Charlie while waiting for Beatrice to finish school so she could go and pick her up. She intended to keep her daughter with her for the rest of the week to get some quality time before having to go back to work the next Monday.  
   
She got a warm welcome from Amenadiel and the doctor.  
   
"I see you got some tan this time," commented Linda cheerfully after releasing her from a strong hug.  
   
"There was a lot of sun down there after all." Chloe tried to sound joyful.  
   
Linda looked her up and down and added with a little smile, "you look good."  
   
Chloe nodded a bit harder than necessary. "Yeah! I... I guess I’m feeling a bit better. But you know... it’s... it’s gonna take time." She was already feeling her eyes fill up with unwanted tears.  
   
Linda took both Chloe’s hands in hers and squeezed lightly to comfort her. "You’ll be okay Chloe," she assured her in a whisper.  
   
"Yeah! Yeah! I know." Chloe forced a smile on her lips that she knew had to look more like a grimace.  
   
Linda only returned her smile and nodded with conviction.  
   
Amenadiel was standing a little behind the new mother, with Charlie in his arms.  
   
"It’s good to see you back Chloe," the angel greeted.  
   
"It’s good to be back too."  
   
Chloe took a few paces to get a better look at the half-angel who was gazing up at her with an adoring smile. The sight of him brought tears to her eyes.  
   
"He’s beautiful!" She breathed.  
   
Amenadiel lifted his son and placed him in Chloe’s arms. "There, hold him for a moment."  
   
Chloe got taken aback, having not expected to hold the Nephilim. Neither did she see coming the surge of emotions reeling in inside her. Feeling him in her arms was making his existence even more real. That baby was half-angel! And in a way, he was a connexion to Lucifer and his origins. He was also something that she could never have with Lucifer...  
   
She had fantasised about it, of course. Fantasised about what their love could have brought into their lives, if only they had more time together...  
   
She failed to contain the tears that started running along her cheeks. She quickly handed the baby back to Amenadiel with a sob. "I’m sorry! I can’t!"  
   
"I’m the one who’s sorry, Chloe," he apologised sheepishly.  
   
"No don’t be! I’m just a mess right now. Maybe I’ll take him later?"  
   
The angel nodded with an encouraging smile.  
   
"Why don’t you take a seat, Chloe?" Offered Linda. "I’ll get you a glass of water."  
   
So Chloe sat in an armchair to leave the couch to her friends.  
   
They passed the next fifteen minutes or so talking about the baby and the new reality of being parents. They seemed to be doing very good and Charlie looked like an easy baby to take care of.  
   
"So, no wings?" Chloe inquired with a little smile. She couldn’t see the baby’s back with the blanket all wrapped around him, but she thought she would have felt the wings while holding him and thought that Linda would have mentioned it if her son had wings.  
   
"No. Not yet at least." Chloe wasn’t sure if Linda sounded relieved or annoyed.  
   
"Yet? What do you mean by that? Wouldn’t you know by now?"  
   
Amenadiel choose to explain. "Actually, it’s not because we don’t see them that they’re not there. They could manifest themselves at any time." He obviously hadn’t given up on his son’s wings yet.  
   
"Really? That’s... that’s good then."  
   
Chloe couldn’t fathom the complexity of taking care of a baby with wings, but she secretly hoped that Charlie would get them. She had only gotten a glimpse of Amenadiel’s wings that night at the Mayan, and not much more of Lucifer’s wonderful white ones. But she wished she could see other angel wings someday.  
   
Her thoughts turned once more to Lucifer. What could be worse for an angel than to end up in Hell? How was he holding up down there, all alone?  
   
She lifted her gaze up to Amenadiel. She hadn’t had the nerves to ask before now, but she needed to know.  
   
"Do you have news?" She asked in a small voice.  
   
It wasn’t necessary to say more for him to understand what she meant.  
   
Amenadiel nodded slowly. "I saw him a few days ago."  
   
Her mouth dropped open in disbelief. "You saw him?" She almost choke on the words. "Is he...?"  
   
"He’s okay Chloe. At least as much as can be in the circumstances."  
   
Chloe closed her eyes under the onslaught of emotions and lifted her hands to her lips in a sign of prayer.  
   
"I’ve been praying..." The rest of her words got stuck in her throat.  
   
Amenadiel startled. "What? You prayed to Lucifer?"  
   
"What...? No! I meant to say that I prayed to your Father, asking him to take care of Lucifer. If I’m honest, you would probably considered what I told Him more as a threat than as an actual prayer, but it’s not like I’m worrying what he thinks of me."  
   
She narrowed her eyes at Amenadiel, considering his last words. Her heart started beating faster at the possibility laying before her.  
   
"Did you mean...? Do you actually mean that I could pray to Lucifer and that he would hear me?"  
   
"Chloe..." His embarrassment was answer enough.  
   
She sprang up in excitement. "Why haven’t you say so before? I could have talked to him all that time!"  
   
Amenadiel stood up too and passed the baby to Linda before facing her. "Because it wouldn’t do him any good, Chloe!"  
   
Chloe couldn’t believe this. "Are you kidding me? He’s all alone down there, cut out from everyone who loves him. He needs to be reminded of our love. He needs to hear how much I love him! I need... I need to tell him!" she ended in a near shout.  
   
Amenadiel placed his hands on both her shoulders to calm her down. "And that’s exactly why you shouldn’t pray to him, Chloe. He will have to go on living in hell for eternity without you. All you would achieve by praying to him would be to delay his acceptance. It’s already been over a year for him down there, and he’s still an emotional wreck... Please don’t add to his suffering. He needs to get over you, or it will kill him slowly."  
   
 _Over a year..._ Chloe was astounded! She didn’t understand the mechanics of the time difference between here and Hell, but she believed the angel. Over a year, and he was still missing her as much. She didn’t doubt for a second that she too would still be missing him in a year or in ten for that matter. His pain was making her heart bleed, as much as the idea that he could forget about her someday.  
   
Chloe sat back on the chair, feeling suddenly dizzy. Amenadiel was right though. Lucifer had eternity before him. It wouldn’t be right to extend his pain unnecessarily. It was probably not right for her either. She’d been secretly praying to God for a miracle, for a chance for Lucifer to come back to her. However, if Lucifer hadn’t found a way to do so in over a year, it probably meant that his staying in Hell would be permanent. Apparently, there was no shortage of miracle for the Devil.  
   
Chloe had been unable to say goodbye to him that night. It had felt so surreal, and so painful. She now wondered if it hadn’t been selfish of her to deny him a clean break.  
   
In that moment, she understood what she had to do.  
   
She stayed a while longer at Linda’s, listening only partly to what was being said. She waited until she was back in her car, alone, to bring her hands together and make her first and last prayer to the love of her life.  
   
 _Lucifer,_  
 _I love you!_  
 _I will always love you._  
 _But I need to let you go, for your sake, and mine._  
 _Goodbye, my Love!_  
 

* * *

  
   
The doomed soul was forcefully dragged along the dark corridors of Hell. He was still in a daze after undergoing endless torturing at the hands of demons and even that of the Devil himself who had taken great pleasure in his suffering. There was no way for him to know how long it had lasted. Years? Centuries? Who could say? Could his torments now be over? The soul shivered in disbelief. He didn’t really care where the demon was taking him, as long as the torturing would not start all over. He would do anything to not go back to his cell, and to his torments.  
   
When they came to a stop in a vast chamber faintly lit by torches, the soul got thrown down on the hard stony ground and was forced to prostrate in front of a shadowed figure. He kept his head low, not daring to look at the person, or whatever it was, standing before him. After a moment, he was allowed to look up, yet remained on his knees in a sign of submission.  
   
The mysterious being lurking in the shadows finally stepped up in the light towards him, revealing its nature. The first thing that stroke him when he laid eyes upon her was not her incredible beauty, nor her alluring way of moving like temptation incarnate, but the predator gaze in those emerald eyes. She diffused a sense of danger such as he’d never felt before.                                           
   
The blond enthralling creature addressed him in a singsong voice.  
   
"Father Kinley I suppose. I was looking forward to meeting you." Her smile looked like that of a snarling wolf.  
   
Kinley swallowed hard. He could feel the strength of her gaze weighing down on him.  
   
She moved closer to him, until only a few paces separated them, then continued. "I hear that you are to thank for the return of our king."  
   
The way she said it left Kinley unsure if she thought it to be a good thing or not.  
   
She stepped even closer and lifted his chin with one of her finger. "I also learned that you are quite good at interpreting prophecies..."  
   
"Good?" he staggered. "I suppose I am. I guess I was good enough to stop one from happening and send the Devil back to Hell. But in spite of having saved the world from evil, I now find myself in Hell. It has to be an error," he begged, "I don’t deserve Hell! Surely you must see that? I am a hero who did God’s work!"  
   
The being busted into laughter, releasing his chin by the same occasion. It took her a moment to regain her composure.  
   
"Father! Father! I don’t know about the hero part, but I’m quite sure it wasn’t God’s work," she said enigmatically. "You see, by forcing the Devil to come back, I think you made one of Hell’s prophecies possible. A prophecy in which I am at the center. A prophecy I would like very much to see fulfilled, whatever its meaning. But to make sure that my assumptions are correct about it, I need your expertise. Help me, and I will make it worth your while."  
   
Could salvation come in the form of pure evil? He wondered. "Can you make sure I won’t be tortured anymore? I don’t deserve to be punished. I should be in Heaven!"  
   
She chuckled once more at his denying. "Now I understand why you needed demons to torture you instead of having your own personal hell loop. You feel absolutely no remorse whatsoever for what you did, do you? I’m afraid Heaven is closed to you forever, Father."  
   
His last hope of redemption crumbled with her words. "Then get me out of here! Send me back to Earth and I will serve you faithfully."  
   
The blond being considered his demand for a moment. "I might be able to arrange something to grant your wish. But be aware that by doing so, your soul will belong to me for eternity."  
   
Father Kinley released a deep breath as he tossed aside his last remaining doubts. "You have a deal! Mistress." And he bowed deeply before her.  
   
She clapped her hands happily. "Glad that we could find an arrangement. Now, the crux of the matter. _The prophecy!_ "  
   
In spite of himself, Kinley felt excitement at the prospect of discovering a new prophecy. One that he would this time help fulfill instead of trying to counter.  
   
Her words resounded in the chamber with a dark ring to it.  
   
"It is said that, «When the Devil comes back to Hell, the Mother of Demons will raise from the depths of the Earth and at last claim her rightful place»."  
   
A sense of dread washed over the former priest. "Who are you?" He whispered.  
   
The smile that appeared on her lovely face was pure evil. Behind her, two huge bath-like wings spread out as if to confirm her diabolic nature. She was beautiful and terrible, raising in him awe and terror.    
   
"I am _Lilith_ , first human ever to have been made by God. I was cast down to Hell and changed into a demon, the first of all demons, when I refused to spend my life in Heaven in servitude to that pathetic Adam. God said I was flawed. _Flawed!_ For refusing to obey. Rotten to the core, He said. So he cast me out of Heaven, but gave me the power to create other demons who would have the task of torturing the future human souls who would, like me, be flawed."  
   
Kinley gaped in shock at the revelation of who was standing before him.  
   
"So tell me Father, what do you think that prophecy truly means?"  
   
Kinley paled at the realisation of the meaning of the dark foretelling. He started laughing hysterically at the craziness of the situation.  
   
Lilith didn’t seem to like his reaction. "You find it funny, human?"  
   
"Oh yes!" He answered between giggles. "This is most hilarious. Now I understand why I am in Hell. All that time working to stop evil, and it turns out that _I_ will be the one responsible from releasing it upon the world!"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There it is! That crazy idea that came to me while trying to bring Lilith into this story. And I have so much more surprises to reveal about her! This is gonna be so much fun! I hope you are liking the idea as much as I am. Please let me know. Thanks for reading!
> 
>  


	4. That Eerie Feeling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve been amazed at the reader’s reaction to this story. Thank you so much for all the reviews, comments, kudos and such. You are awesome! To thank you for your support, I worked hard to release this chapter quickly. I once more made myself cry while writing this. Damn! Hoping you’ll feel the vibes too. Now place to the story. Enjoy!

Chloe went back to work as planned the next week, even though she wasn’t sure to be strong enough to do it. She still felt way too fragile to be able to handle any hard cases. Yet, the prospect of busying her mind with work seemed like what she needed at the moment. After all, she’d always partly dealt with her problems by immersing herself into her job in the past, and it had usually been working.  
   
The last days passed with her daughter had done well on her mental state. The distraction of taking care of Trixie and focussing on the child’s needs instead of her owns had helped distance herself partly from the pain. At least while her daughter was with her. But as soon as Chloe found herself alone, at night, the pain was coming back with a vengeance. The bottle of whisky was still her only way to dull her tortured mind enough to go to sleep.  
   
So yes, with Beatrice returning to school this morning, going back to work sounded like the only thing to do to not lose herself once more.  
   
When she approached her desk, she saw a very nervous Dan walking to her. They hadn’t seen each other since her return and had barely talked over the phone, which had been almost exclusively about their daughter.  
   
She imagined that Dan probably had a hard time dealing with what she’d revealed to him the last time they’d seen each other. Who wouldn’t really? She just hoped that he would deal with it better than she had at the time. For him, learning that angels and demons were real, freaking God too, and that the Devil himself had been in his life for the last few years and had even seduced his ex-wife in the process... Well, let’s just say that she was preparing herself to face an onslaught of distress along with harsh reprimands for falling for the Devil.  
   
She sat in her chair and stilled herself, waiting for the storm to come. Instead, Dan surprised her like never before.  
   
"Hey Chlo! It’s so good to see you." He was wearing a little hesitant smile.  
   
"Oh! Thanks... I... I’m glad to see you too," she answered hesitantly.  
   
He leant closer to her as not to be overheard by their coworkers. "You feeling okay?" He inquired with genuine worry in his voice.    
   
Chloe startled. "Shouldn’t I be the one to ask you that?"  
   
He shook his head in denial. "Don’t worry about me, Chloe. Deep down, I’ve always been a believer, so it didn’t come like that much of a shock to learn that it was all real. And I had some help to get through it. I have a friend who is an actual angel you know?" He smirked at her playfully, which made her chuckle.  
   
He added softly, "besides, I’m not the one who fell in love with the Devil..."  
   
Chloe’s eyes instantly filled up with tears. Contrarily to what she had feared, Daniel’s word were nothing close to accusing, but were instead full of concern and understanding.  
   
The strong emotions that arose inside her prevented her from answering anything.  
   
Dan quickly went on. "And I know for a fact that Lucifer loved you in return. It was obvious that he would have done anything for you... I can only imagine what you’ve been through over the last few months, Chloe. I know Linda and Amenadiel were there for you, but I would have liked to be there too." He chuckled shamefully. "Instead I’ve been acting like an ass, accusing Lucifer of the worse. Charlotte is in Heaven, while he... He really went back to Hell to protect us, did he?"  
   
She could only nod silently, too wound up with emotions. He nodded too while taking a deep breath.  
   
"But I’m here now, and I won’t let you down, Chloe. Okay?"  
   
She could see he was on the verge of tears, as was she.  
   
"Okay!" She answered faintly before bringing him down into a crushing embrace.  
   
"Thank you Dan!" She whispered in his ear. "It means so much to me."  
   
And then she let the tears flow down.  
   
Dan held her through it, muttering soothing words, promising that everything would be okay. She wanted so much to believe him.  
   
When she finally released him, he tried to diffuse the tension with a small change of topic.  
   
"So, about that last case, with the dem..." He stopped himself from finishing the word. "You know!" He looked around to make sure no one was into earshot. "I closed it by blaming all the deaths on Father Kinley, saying that he probably wanted revenge against the church for turning their backs on him. I had to twist the truth a little to make it appear as if he finally killed himself out of remorse. Fortunately, the department didn’t look into it too much, probably at the church’s request to keep it down. It looked like everybody wanted that case to be closed as soon as possible."  
   
Chloe looked at him in awe and wonder, and not only for closing the case so easily. "You’re incredible! You know that?"  
   
He smiled broadly. "Yeah! I know! But it’s good to hear it sometimes."  
   
She chuckled merrily. In that instant, she was so glad that she’d told him the whole truth, and so very thankful to have him in her life.  
   
"And the good news is, we don’t have a case at the moment." He winked at her encouragingly. "So hopefully, you’ll be able to ease yourself back into it smoothly."  
   
This time she genuinely smiled back at him. "That sounds good to me."  
 

* * *

  
   
Chloe soon ended up in Ella’s lab after seeing Dan. She figured that her friend would find her soon enough and want to discuss Lucifer’s departure. The detective wasn’t looking forward to that conversation, but preferred by far having it somewhere discreet instead of in the middle of the precinct.  
   
After receiving the warmest hug ever, Chloe put a brave smile on her face to ease Ella’s evident worries about her state of mind.  
   
To her credit, Ella didn’t ask if she were okay.  
   
"Dan told me about Lucifer going back home definitely. It came as a shock. Were you aware he was leaving?"  
   
Chloe lowered her eyes. She was determined not to cry this time. "No... I got no warning before the moment he had to go. It all happened so quickly... But to Lucifer’s defense, I don’t think he saw it coming either. And you have to know that he would have stayed if there had been any other way."  
   
Ella forced a little smile on her lips. "I’m sure he would have. But damn! I’m gonna miss him!"  
   
"Yeah, me too." Was all Chloe could say.  
   
Ella tried to cheer her up. "Oh! We’ll have to go out for a couple mojitos so you can tell me everything about your trip in the Cayman Islands. It must have been awesome!"  
   
"Sure! It was very beautiful."  
   
Chloe had absolutely no idea what she should say about her trip. It wasn’t like she had any fun there or that she’d taken any photos for that matter. Feeling like she needed to change the subject, she talked about the most obvious thing worthy of talking.  
   
"So, there really is no case to work on at the moment?"  
   
"Nope! Just finishing up on cases already closed." Then Ella frowned as if uneasy. "Talking about closed cases. There’s this case Dan worked on just after you left... It’s... I don’t like to bring it up to you but... The way Daniel handled it, it just felt wrong. I don’t agree with his conclusions at all. But he wouldn’t listen. And yet, I have to admit that I can’t find any other explanation that would fit with the clues we gathered. Maybe you could look into it? You know, you have a way of seeing patterns where nobody else can."  
   
"Ella..." Chloe warned her gently. "For once, just this time, please don’t look into it any further. There was a perfectly logical explanation for Dan to close it that way, even if you can’t see it. Please, believe me when I say that it wouldn’t be a good idea to dig back into it."  
   
Chloe kept begging her silently with her eyes.  
   
Ella looked stunned by her answer, and seemed to be internally battling with conflicting thoughts.  
   
She finally nodded slowly. "All right! I trust you Chloe."  
   
Chloe let escape a deep breath of relief. "Thanks Ella! I know I’m asking a lot from you."  
   
Ella lightly squeezed her arm and smirked playfully. "Nah! I’m just taking a leap of faith here."  
 

* * *

  
   
Over the next month, Chloe did her best to invest herself into her work as well as in taking care of Trixie. Dan became her official partner and happened to be incredibly supportive, even when she came in with evident hangovers following particularly rough nights.  
   
She’d thought saying goodbye to Lucifer should have helped her turn the page and go on with her life, but apparently it was not as simple as that. Whatever she tried to tell herself, life was simply not as bright without him in it. She missed him with every fibers of her being, and it didn’t seem to be lessening in the least even with the passing of time.  
   
In a way, she even felt worse. The constant doubting of the wisdom of telling him goodbye was making her crazy. Would it help him move on, or on the contrary worsen the situation by making him feel abandoned? While she could probably ask Amenadiel how Lucifer was doing, a part of her was just too afraid to hear the truth. She knew she wouldn’t want Lucifer to know how broken she herself felt. Maybe it was better for her not to know either.  
   
Maze had moved back in almost as soon as Chloe came back in town. The demon blamed it on Charlie being too loud and disturbing her lifestyle.  
   
"Did you know babies could cry ALL, NIGHT, LONG?" Maze had said in amazement. "You’d think he is being tortured." The demon had tried to look unfazed, but Chloe could tell how much her friend cared about that baby and that seeing him cry like that was hard on her.   
   
Even if those reasons seemed good ones for Maze to move out from Linda’s place, Chloe suspected that her change of heart had more to do with wanting to protect Trixie and herself from whatever dangers could still be lurking in town. Lucifer had suggested as much after all. And now that Amenadiel was living permanently with Linda, there was no need for another warden for little Charlie.  
   
To say the truth, Chloe had been more than happy to take the demon back in, Trixie even more. Now that things were out in the open between them, Chloe had no more difficulty considering Maze as her friend. Maze and she both kept a blind eye to the fact that neither of them needed a roommate anymore now that they had plenty of money to live wherever they wanted.  
   
Having the demon live once more with her allowed them to have some long talks at night. Now that Lucifer was gone forever, the demon seemed to have no reasons left to keep anything from her anymore about his secrets.  
   
As she learned, Daniel had been more right than he could have ever thought when saying the there was nothing Lucifer wouldn’t do for her. Lucifer actually died twice for her, made a deal with God to save her, and killed one of his brothers to protect her, among other things. Maze also demystified a lot of strange occurrences that happened throughout her partnership with Lucifer, among them the story of the Goddess of Creation having taken residence in Charlotte’s body for a few months. Chloe learned everything there was to learn, or almost. There was still the subject of the real reason for Lucifer’s flight to Vegas and marriage with Candy that Maze was still reluctant to broach, for obscure reasons.  
   
She still had a hard time believing everything Lucifer put himself through for the love of her, never even trying to take credit for any of it. And she loved him all the more for that.  
   
The more time went by, the more she wondered how much longer she would be able to hold on before she broke down completely. Every day, something would remind her of him, and of their time together, from the vending machine at the precinct, to every damn coffee shops she crossed. Oftentimes, she would imagine the puns he would make at a crime scene, and what she’d have answered, only to realise painfully that he wasn’t really by her side, nor would he ever be again.  
   
 _It was killing her slowly._  
   
She was glad that Amenadiel wasn’t suggesting anymore that she moved into Lucifer’s penthouse. She’d never set foot back there since that night, and didn’t think she would ever find the strength to do so either. That much of a reminder of him would for sure finish her.  
   
Last week, she’d dissolved into tears only because she’d found an empty bag of Lucifer’s favorite Wrench Puffs snack on the ground near her apartment. The world really seemed to be conspiring to make her crazy.  
   
Strangely, from that moment on, she often got the impression that she could feel Lucifer’s presence close to her.  
   
 _It was maddening_!  
   
To make things even worse, she’d heard other detectives talk of an increase in cases of disappearances over the last two weeks or so. It immediately reminded her of all the people who got killed by Dromos or under his orders, only to be possessed by demons just before Lucifer left. Dan had even made the same remark to her when he’d heard about the cases. At least none of their homicide cases revealed to have anything supernatural to them. They were both probably just being paranoid. Most probably.  
   
That’s when her nerves started playing tricks on her, giving her almost constantly the impression of being watched.  
   
 _She was losing her mind!_  
   
A few nights ago, she resorted to talking to Maze about it around a bottle of vodka. She told her of all the disappearances as well as of her strange feeling of being followed.  
   
Maze had immediately dismissed her fears. "You’re being paranoid, Decker!"  
   
"Won’t you even take the time to check if there is anything real to it?" Chloe had been struck by her friend’s reaction, or lack thereof.  
   
She would have imagined Maze to go to the barricades at the mention of a possible threat to her life, or at least at the chance that demons could be back on Earth. Instead, she’d sounded suspiciously unconcerned.  
   
Maze had visibly forced herself to stay patient with her. "Decker! If something was amiss, I would know. After all, I am the one guarding this side of the planes in LA, and Lucifer is guarding the other side. So there is absolutely no reason for you to worry. You are safe, and Trixie too."  
   
Maze had closed the subject dismissively with a promise and an annoyed eye roll. "I will look into it in between bounties, if only to prove to you that it’s all in your head. I’m really busy lately with lots of contracts, so don’t expect me to come back to you with answers before a few days at the least."  
   
Chloe couldn’t shake the feeling that something had been wrong with Maze’s reaction. So when Maze called her at work this afternoon to certify that there was no trace of demons in LA, and that absolutely no one was following her, Chloe found herself doubting her friend’s words.  
   
Chloe knew it wasn’t right for her to do so, but she couldn’t resist the urge of checking the police database to learn of Maze’s whereabouts during the last days. The feeling that something really was wrong increased a hundredfold when she discovered that the bounty hunter hadn’t taken any contract for the last two weeks.  
   
Chloe sat frozen in front of her computer. Maze had lied to her and was obviously hiding something.  
   
Something was definitely _very wrong_!  
   
She started hyperventilating when she thought back about the eerie impression of Lucifer’s presence that she’d been feeling lately.  
   
What if it wasn’t just in her head?  
   
 _What if it was all real_?  
   
She jumped out of her chair and grabbed her keys. Rushing past Dan, she just told him that she had something personal to take care of and that she would help him finish up the paperwork of their latest closed case tomorrow morning. Since her return, it wasn’t uncommon for her to cut short some of her afternoons at work when feeling too overwhelmed. And Daniel had been most understanding of her needs until now. Today made no exception, as he only smiled softly at her and suggested that she took some times to herself. He even offered to get Trixie for the night. She was most grateful to see that he once again didn’t make a big deal out of it.  
   
There was only one way for her to make sure that she wasn’t becoming crazy. Heart hammering in her chest, she headed straight for LUX.  
   
Upon arriving there, she made a quick stop downstairs to ask Patrick if he’d seen Lucifer lately. He’d looked confused by her question, as if not understanding where she was going with this. Unsurprisingly, he confirmed not having seen him since the ownership passed on to Amenadiel.  
   
When she voiced her intention of going up to the penthouse, he retrieved the key to the elevator and unlocked it, reminding her in the process that she still had an open invitation to go there anytime she wanted.  
   
As she slowly arose towards the penthouse, her apprehension reached a dizzying peak. All she was really aware of was her laborious breathing and the thunderous noise of her heart pulsing against her temples.  
   
Returning there was... terrifying!  
   
She knew it had the potential to crush her.  
   
She wasn’t sure what was most terrifying though. The possibility of reliving how she’d felt that night when he’d left her? Or of finding the furniture all covered in white sheets? Or of discovering that what she thought she’d felt lately was only a trick of her mind? Or instead finding out that Lucifer was indeed back, but hadn’t bothered to come and see her?    
   
It was too late to turn back when she realised that there couldn’t be any good outcome from going there tonight.  
   
It was in a daze that she walked out of the elevator and into the penthouse.  
   
Her first shock was to find the place lacking any white sheet at all.   
   
Her heart skipped a beat.  
   
Why wasn’t it all covered in drapes?  
   
Instead, it looked exactly like when Lucifer lived there. It even looked clean.  
   
She walked a few paces in, until she reached the piano and caressed one of the keys. No dust there. And shouldn’t the lid be closed?  
   
A cold shiver ran deep in her bones.  
   
She looked around wildly to find other clues that would confirm that she was not losing her mind.  
   
There on the bar, was resting a single tumbler still half-full of amber liquid.  
   
Her eyes started burning with tears.  
   
 _Could he be back?_  
  
But surely if he was back he would have contacted her. Wouldn’t he?  
   
Chloe racked her fingers through her hair in near panic.  
   
" _Lucifer?_ " she choke out.  
   
Only silence answered her.  
   
"Lucifer please, if you’re there... I need to see you," she finished in a sob.  
   
"Please! I need you!" She dissolved into a sobbing mess.  
   
After a long moment of complete loss of control, Chloe tried to rein herself in, first by taking a few deep breathes, then by trying to convince herself that there could be a very logical explanation for what she was seeing.  
   
Amenadiel could be coming here from time to time, to get away from his parental responsibilities, which would explain the half-full glass.  Or maybe he was keeping it clean in case Chloe decided to finally come and live here. Yes, it had to be something like that.  
   
She should never have come back here. She’d known she wasn’t ready for that.  
   
She was in the motion of turning away to escape, when her eyes landed on Lucifer’s bed. As much as she was hurting right now by being in this place so full of his memories, she was also longing to feel closer to him. Against her better judgement, she walked up the few stairs to his bedroom and hovered above the inviting black sheets. Without really thinking about what she was doing, she slip under the covers, grabbed a pillow, and buried her face in its soft fabric.  
   
Her sobbing started anew when she realized that it still smelled of him through the clean smell of fresh soap.  
   
She fell asleep a long while later with her cheeks still damp with tears.  
   
She woke up to the soft feel of fingers brushing over her face.  
   
Not realising yet where she was, she mumbled groggily before fluttering her eyes open.  
   
A rush of adrenaline brought her wide awake in an instant when she took in her darken surroundings.  
   
The eerie feeling of a touch was still lingering over her skin...  
   
" _Lucifer?_ " She called desperately.  
   
Still no answer.  
   
"Please don’t do this to me!"  
   
She rushed out of bed and into the living room only to find it empty.  
   
Suddenly, she heard and felt a burst of wind blow through the room.  
   
She thought her heart would stop.  
   
But when her eyes snapped around to its origin, she found the glass doors to the balcony wide open. She couldn’t remember if they were open when she first came in.  
   
She forced herself to believe that it had only been the wind, and her troubled mind playing tricks on her.  
   
Because if it was not, she couldn’t envision what it meant...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I am torturing you, and myself, with angst :/ But that’s pretty much how I feel every time I think of Chloe’s and Lucifer’s predicament. Lucifer’s real return is very close though, as well as lots of action. I hope you liked this chapter. Thanks for reading!


	5. Terrifying Realizations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The plot is now unfurling even more. Enjoy the ride!

Chloe escaped the penthouse in a rush after that, afraid that this place would take away the little sanity she still had. She returned to her apartment where she emptied half a bottle of bourbon while trying to make sense of the craziness going on in her life.  
   
Her mind seemed to be set on repeat, going again and again over the reasons why Lucifer would not reveal himself to her if he was indeed back. Was he interpreting her prayer as if she’d given up on him, abandoned him? And was he resenting her for that? Or maybe he came to understand that she was ultimately the one responsible for his going back to Hell and could not stand the thought of being with her anymore? She personally still agonised over that knowledge, feeling the guilt deep in her bones. So she thought she could not blame him if he thought so. Or maybe he simply didn’t love her anymore... That possibility was the worst to contemplate. She wasn’t sure she could take it if it was so. Being away from him knowing that he loved her was already devastating enough, but if his love for her had died, she would have nothing left...  
   
And that was more terrifying than anything.  
   
It was almost dawn when she finally dozed off on the couch, wrapped up in a blanket.  
   
Her awakening was as hard as could be expected, with the little sleep she got and the remnant of alcohol still coursing through her veins. Without the strong rays of sunshine aggressing her eyes, she might not have woken up so early, having forgotten to set an alarm clock. Even though, it was already late enough that there was no chance for her to get to the precinct on time.  
   
For a moment, she contemplated calling in sick, or maybe never going back at work altogether. Nothing made sense anymore in her life. Without Lucifer, and now without even the certainty of his love for her, she felt utterly lost. But what would she do if not keep on working? Who would she be? And who was she without him...?  
   
Her soul searching provided no answers. So work it would be, if only to keep her mind from agonizing over the mess that was her life.  
   
Always the sympathetic partner, upon seeing the state she was in Dan brought her a strong cup of coffee while trying to act as if nothing was amiss. But it was clear that he’d understood right away that it was not one of her best days. He assured her a bit too joyfully that their day seemed to be starting slowly with only the paperwork from their last case to finish up. She was grateful that he didn’t mention her being late or the fact that she kept her sunglasses on.  
   
She dived into the paperwork that Dan handed her, glad for the respite it provided her mind. After an hour or so of what Lucifer would have called boring work, she became slowly aware of an argument going on not too far from her, between a detective and a civilian. Their conversation was getting more and more heated by the minute.  
   
From what Chloe heard, the woman was trying to convince the detective not to close the case of her missing husband even though a witness had spotted him in town a few days ago. A video footing from a street camera even confirmed the information. For the detective, it was a proof that her husband was still alive and had left willingly, therefore cancelling the need to investigate further into it. As the detective pointed out, the police was already drowning under missing person reports and could not afford putting more energy and resources into that particular case.  
   
That story reminded her too much of her experience with demon possession not to take interest in it. She waited until the woman stormed away towards the exit to intercept her.  
   
"Excuse me! I am Detective Decker. I heard your conversation with Detective Adams and I think there might be more to this story. Would you be willing to tell me more about it? Maybe I could help you."  
   
The angry scowl on the woman’s face rapidly dissolved into a tearful and grateful smile. The pretty blond woman simply nodded, lips slightly trembling with emotion, and followed Chloe into an interrogation room, away from indiscreet ears.  
   
Once they were seated face to face, her notebook and pen at the ready, Chloe put herself into detective mode.  
   
"Why don’t you start at the beginning so I can consider all the facts?" she started with a sympathetic tone.  
   
The blond took a deep breath to steady herself. "Alright! My name is Elisabeth Harper. My husband, Steve, disappeared about two weeks ago. He just walked out of his job at the docks after getting injured in what appeared to be a work accident, and never came back home." She shook her head in denial and sniffed her tears back in. "It makes no sense! We were in love! Happy! He’d had to be forced to leave. Maybe he was scared for his life? Maybe that work accident was not an accident at all, and someone was threatening his life which sent him into hiding? I don’t know, but Steve would never have left me willingly. That’s the only thing I’m sure of."  
   
Chloe could relate all too well to Elisabeth’s story, having just lost Lucifer in similar circumstances. She forced down her own feelings of loss and helplessness to focus on the case.  
   
"Tell me more about that work accident. Was Steve badly injured?"  
   
Elisabeth nodded with clear worry in her eyes. "Actually yes. His coworkers told me that for a moment, they all thought he was dead from that crate falling down on his head. But he just stood back up and walked out the door without saying a word. I checked out every hospital but he hasn’t been seen at any of them."  
   
"Ms. Harper, I think I could pick up that case to pursue the investigation. Even though I am a homicide detective, I could approach it as a possible murder attempt to justify pursuing it."  
   
The hope she saw in the woman’s eyes broke Chloe’s heart. She wasn’t about to tell her that she thought her husband to be long dead, but at least she could bring her some kind of closure if she could find him. Her sixth sense screamed _demon possession_. All the signs were there to see, for anyone aware of the phenomenon. But wasn’t Lucifer supposed to be keeping the demons under control down in Hell? And shouldn’t Maze be guarding this side of the planes as her demon friend had put it? Or maybe she was just making connections where there was none. Most likely it was nothing and she was just being paranoid. Still, there was just too many coincidences and strange things happening lately around her not to see a pattern in it.  
   
Chloe finished the interview by asking about the person who claimed having seen Steve Harper in town over the last days. She also questioned her about anyone who might have had grudges against him, but unsurprisingly the wife admitted not being able to name any.  
   
After Ms. Harper left, Chloe considered going after that possible demon alone. It would certainly be dangerous, even suicidal some would say. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if she got killed on duty, after all she already felt dead inside. Unless she ended up in Heaven... Did suicidal behaviour reason enough to be sent in Hell instead? And if not, of what she understood of her talks with Maze, the guilt that she felt for her responsibility with Lucifer’s return to Hell would probably be enough to buy her a ticket straight to Hell, and to Lucifer. If he was even still there...  
   
She sighed dejectedly. As much as she was hurting, it wasn’t her style to give up like that, and she had Trixie to consider. She could never do that to her daughter. She owe her to keep going on, as she owe it to herself.  
   
She didn’t like much more the idea of endangering Dan by involving him into that case. Yet, he was her partner, and she knew he would resent her if he ever learned that she kept him out of it.  
   
Her mind finally made up, she motioned for Dan to join her in the interrogation room where she exposed the Harper case to him, without letting filter out her personal conclusions.  
   
Dan listen to her tensely, not interrupting her once until she’d finished stating the facts. "Damn Chlo! There’s a demon on the loose!"  
   
Maybe she wasn’t so delusional after all.  
   
"It would appear so. Still, it could be just a regular case for all we know," she added without much conviction.  
   
"Yeah right! Who are you trying to convince?"  
   
Chloe grimaced in answer and lowered her eyes sheepishly. "I’m sorry to bring you into this, Dan. I just didn’t know who else to ask help from."  
   
"Are you kidding? I’m glad you did. We’re gonna get that son of a bitch and send him straight back to Hell where Lucifer will give him just what he deserves."  
   
Would Lucifer really be down there to punish that demon if they sent him back? Chloe shook her musing away. Now was not the time to think about that.  
   
Oblivious to her inner turmoil, Dan continued. "We should call Maze though. That demon knows how to fight. I can tell you that."  
   
Chloe shook her head vehemently. "No way! Maze is acting weird lately. She’s been hiding things and even lying to me. She’ll only say that we’re being paranoid as she said we were about the streak of disappearances. No, she won’t help and would probably try to dissuade us. We’re on our own."  
   
Dan considered her words. "All right then. What should I know about demons before going after one?"  
   
Chloe leant back in her seat and tapped a fingertip against her lips in thoughts. "Well, for one, they are very strong, but you must already know that, knowing Maze." Dan nodded and encouraged her to go on. "Also, they are very hard to kill. Damn, I discharged a whole magazine on one and it was still moving. Eve had to bash its brain in with her heel to kill it."  
   
Dan’s eyes were bulging in amazement. "Kill the brain, like with zombies. Got it!" He blinked a few times, looking as if in a daze. "Damn! I can’t believe we’re really having that conversation."  
   
Chloe buried her head into her hands and grunted in similar disbelief. Her life had gotten so crazy!  
   
 Then Dan’s next question surprised her. "Is the first woman of humanity also a badass then?"  
   
Apparently Amenadiel had told Dan a lot about what had been going on unbeknown to him.  
   
"Eve? No! Not at all. She was just trying to help save little Charlie and make up for her involvement in bringing those demons up on Earth. She felt pretty guilty about that, and with good reasons if you ask me." Chloe couldn’t hide her mixt feelings about the first woman.  
   
"I figured something like that from what Amenadiel told me. I also understand that you must not be her biggest fan. Still, I hope she’ll come back some day. Maze is a mess since she left."  
   
That startled Chloe. "What? You think Maze is all broody like that because of Eve going away? I thought... I thought she just missed Lucifer. Do you truly think there was something real between those two?"  
   
"Damn Chloe! You can be so blind sometimes when it comes to matters of the heart. Maze was in love with her!"  
   
"Hun?" Jaw dropping, that’s all Chloe was able to say.  
   
The memory of Maze singing a love song at LUX in Eve’s presence came back to her. Suddenly, a conversations she had a few weeks ago with the demon was making perfect sense. Maze had told her she’d finally given her blessing to Linda’s and Amenadiel’s relationship. As she put it, she at last understood how painful it could be to not be with the one you loved, and didn’t wish to make her friends go through it if she could do otherwise. She had thought at the time that Maze was referring to the obvious pain Chloe was enduring at being separated from Lucifer. She would never have suspected that the demon was talking from personal experience.  
   
Then maybe Maze’s strange behaviours of late could be attributed to her broken heart instead of to some dark machination. Her demon friend may really have a heart after all. That was something to consider.  
   
The first thing they did after officialising their new case with the Lieutenant and retrieving the casefile from Detective Adams, was going to question the co-worker of M. Harper who had seen him three days ago. All he had to say was that Steve had seemed in a strange mood, not even answering him when they had crossed paths. He’d been still wearing the same clothes as the day he disappeared and looked unkempt and dishevelled. It confirmed Dan’s and Chloe’s impression from the footage they already saw of Steve walking down a street close to where the co-worker had seen him.  
   
While they were at his work place, they took the opportunity to talk to the missing man’s closest friends as well as to his boss. The detectives felt compelled to also follow the trail of a possible threat against Steve’s life, but neither of them really believed they would find any lead supporting that. As it turned out, no one mentioned anything that would let believe someone held him a grudge.  
   
With any other cases, their next stop would probably have been Steve’s apartment, but not with this one. The trail being most probably already cold, they reasoned that if there was even the slightest chance of finding that man, or whatever he was, would be to start at the last place he had been sighted.  
   
So without waiting any longer, the two detectives drove to the spot in question, situated on the main street of a poor neighbourhood of L.A. From there, they went from one shop to the next showing Steve’s picture, hoping that someone might remember him. Unfortunately, no one had any recollection of seeing him around.  
   
The afternoon was dragging to its end, and yet they had no new lead on Steve’s whereabouts. They were about to abandon the search for the day when Chloe spotted a sign above a door on a side street. It read, _The Shepherd’s Shelter_.  
   
Chloe elbowed Dan to draw his attention to it. "What do you think? If it’s what it looks like, it might be a place to go for someone who’d like to stay out of sight."  
   
Dan nodded in thoughts. "It sure could be. But let’s be cautious. If our guy is in there, we wouldn’t want to endanger innocent people. Who knows what a demon could do if it feels cornered?"  
   
"You’re right, we’re gonna be very careful."  
   
They walked slowly to the shelter’s front door, looking around to confirm the nature of the place. It was an old three stories building with wide windows on the first level. The blinds being drawn, they couldn’t see anything inside.  
   
With a nod at each other, they went in.  
   
Their first impression of the place confirmed their initial guess; it looked like a shelter for beggars and itinerants. The main room was full of people seated at long tables and talking together. By the looks of them, the occupants had to be tramps and people in the needs. Most looked filthy and unkempt, eyes haggard. There was even a faint smell of decay floating over the place.  
   
Their arrival didn’t go unnoticed. As soon as they set foot inside, every eyes turned to them and silence fell over the place.  
   
An unsettling feeling washed over them both.  
   
They were saved by the intervention of a jovial old man walking to them from the back of the room.  
   
He opened his arms in a sign of welcome. "Come in, come in, my children!"  
   
Now that he was getting closer, Chloe noticed that he was wearing a priest’s collar. She cringed internally. After her bad experience with Father Kinley, she doubted ever being able to trust another priest anymore.  
   
The priest eyed them up and down for a second before pursuing with a kind smile. "Everyone is welcome in my shelter, though you don’t seem to be in a need for a cover or a bed for the night, if I’m not mistaking. How may I help you good fellows?"  
   
Chloe shook his hand and introduced them. "I am Detective Decker, and this is my partner, Detective Espinoza. We are looking for someone who has gone missing and we have reasons to think that he might have come here during the last weeks."  
   
"Glad to meet you Detectives. I am Father McMahon, and I will of course do my best to help the authorities find that poor missing soul."  
   
He talked in a low and trusting tone, much like Father Kinley. Chloe thought it had to be a priest trait. He even had a Scottish accent like him. She pushed the deceiving priest out of her mind to focus on the one before her.  
   
Chloe fished out her cell phone to show him Steve’s picture. "Do you recognise that man? He was seen in the neighbourhood a few days ago."  
   
The priest analysed the picture with a frown to finally shake his head in the negative. "I’m really sorry. I don’t think I ever saw him, but a lot of people come in here every day and I’m not always around." He looked back at her with a genuine apologetic air.  
   
Chloe sighed in deception. Another dead-end it would seem. Without much hope that it would get them anywhere, Chloe pushed her luck.  
   
"Would that be okay if we stayed a moment just to look around and maybe show the picture to some people?"  
   
"Of course!" He answered quickly.  
   
Though Chloe thought she felt some kind of hesitation in his voice.  
   
He seemed to notice her picking on it, for he added reluctantly, "but please don’t insist if some of them don’t look inclined to answer your questions. Many of them are not used anymore to socialising and you can imagine that they don’t trust the authorities very much." He lowered his voice to not be overheard. "Some even have mental disorders that can make them appear strange to you."  
   
"Thank you Father, but we have experience with interviewing any kind of people from every horizons. I assure you we will be very respectful."  
   
Father McMahon smiled back at her with understanding in his eyes. "Of course you will."  
   
Chloe and Dan walked further inside and started showing Steve’s picture around under the watchful eye of the priest. They seemed to be facing walls of silence. The place had actually fell eerily silent since their arrival. The conversations had died out and everyone was just staring at them as they showed the picture from one table to the next. They barely received any words in answer to their questions, usually getting only a shake of the head to deny recognising the missing man. The priest was right, those people were definitely not trusting them and were as close mouthed as could be. What was even stranger was that she noticed some glancing sideways at the priest as if wanting to make sure that they were doing like he wanted them to. It didn’t take long for Dan and her to understand that their questioning was going nowhere. They kept at it nonetheless for lack of anything else to do.  
   
They were now at the far end of the room when a young man entered the shelter. He looked completely lost and in need of help. Father McMahon welcomed him warmly, reassuring him that he would be well taken care of here. The priest led the newcomer towards a side door where he ushered him inside a room.  
   
Chloe heard the priest give instruction to who she imagined to be a subaltern.  
   
"Squee, would you please take care of our young friend here and give him something to eat and show him to a room where he could rest?"  
   
She couldn’t hear the muffled answer coming from inside the room, but the door was quickly closed behind the young man and soon she could hear nothing more coming from there. Then the priest came back towards her with his fatherly smile back on.  
   
Something weird was nagging at the back of Chloe’s mind about the whole scene having taken place before her. Maybe it was just the name Squee that sounded strangely familiar without her being able to place it. But it wasn’t just that, something was out of place. She replayed the scene in her mind to analyse it in details while she walked back towards Dan, feeling the need to have her back covered. Dan seemed to notice her uncertainty and instantly became on his guards, looking around warily.  
   
Chloe’s mind was working wildly, until one information stood out. The priest had asked for the young man to be fed...  
   
Then it clicked in her mind like a piece of puzzle being inserted in its right place.  
   
_It didn’t smell of food._  
   
She’d already visited shelters like this one before and as such, it should also be a soup kitchen. Yet no one was eating anything, instead just sitting there talking. And despite the late hour nearing meal time, the kitchen didn’t seem to be in operation.  
   
 Instead of the smell of good food, there was that light smell of decay lingering in the air...  
   
_Chloe’s blood ran cold!_  
   
The terrifying realization came at the same time as she remembered where she heard the name Squee.  
   
_He was one of Dromos’ demons..._  
   
The fear must have shown in her entire features, because the gentle look on Father McMahon’s face fell when he set eyes upon her. He walked slowly the few paces that were still separating them to come stand before her and Daniel who was now by her side.  
   
The priest seemed almost sad when he addressed her again with that deep fatherly voice. "Even though I was happy to see you again, I wish you had never come here, Chloe..."  
   
Chloe’s mind started spinning at the inconceivability of the situation.  
  
_It couldn’t be!_  
  
And yet, the truth was staring her right in the eyes. She whispered the impossible, as if doing so would help her make more sense out of it.  
   
" _Father Kinley!_ "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you can imagine, next chapter will be full of action. I have still many surprises for you. This is so exciting for me to write! I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading, and commenting.


	6. Facing Hell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I rarely update so soon after having released a previous chapter, but I had a free day and was in the mood to pursue this story. So here is another chapter all written in a single day. So enjoy!

 

At hearing Kinley’s name, Dan instantly drew out his gun to point it at the priest. His wild gaze told Chloe that he understood enough of the situation to feel at least as much terrified as she did.    
   
All around them, the assembled people slowly rose up to their feet almost as one. Many reached into their pockets to draw out knifes and daggers of all kinds. None of the weapons seemed to be demonic, but the predatory glint in the beings’ eyes spoke volume about their true nature.  
   
Chloe wondered how she could have thought even for a second that they were humans. There was nothing human left about those beings but their rotting bodies.   
   
Dan was swiping his gun left and right at the surrounding demons before settling to point it back at the priest’s head.  
   
Father McMahon, no, Father Kinley, smiled toothily at her. "Hello Chloe!" he purred. "Don’t you like my new body?" He opened his arms and turned a little on himself to show off his new self. "Father McMahon was an old friend of mine. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind my borrowing his body for a good cause."  
   
The hair stood up on the back of her neck. She didn’t know how it could be possible, but it was. Father Kinley had come back, and sounded even more delusional than ever.  
   
"A good cause?" she choke out. "You call helping demons come to Earth a good cause now?"  
   
He shook his head and grimaced almost like he pitied her. "You don’t understand Chloe. This is far greater than you or I could have ever imagined. It was all written! I can’t escape my destiny."  
   
"You’re crazy!" she deadpanned.  
   
He smiled sheepishly at her accusation. "I have to admit that having my soul twisted and reshaped into a demon hasn’t improved my mental health, but in the end I find it quite liberating really. The guilt and self-doubting have simply disappeared altogether, leaving only a deep sense of purpose and freedom in their place. Most wonderful! You should try it."  
   
Totally dumfounded, Dan couldn’t keep himself from stating the obvious. "You’re really him..."  
   
"Well, I’m not as pretty as I used to be, I must admit, but yes this is all me. For now." Then Kinley frowned at the gun pointed at him. "You realize, Detective Espinoza, that you can’t really kill me? All you would achieve by destroying this already dead body would be to anger my new fellowship here who would tear you apart in a heartbeat."  
   
Dan’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed with difficulty. Chloe put her hand over his gun to force him to lower it. He reluctantly did and holstered his weapon in a sign of good faith. Kinley was right, they were not in a situation to use force as an argument. Instead, Chloe thought that she might use her former relationship with Kinley to manoeuver them out to safety.  
   
She raised her hands in an appeasing gesture. "Father Kinley...," she started with as calm a voice as she could muster.  
   
"William, please. I don’t think that the title Father still applies to me. Don’t you?"  
   
Chloe nodded simply. "William..., we are no threat to you. You could simply let us go, and we would not bother you again. It’s not like the police would believe us if we told them anyway. We’ll just walk out of here and let you do your own things. Whatever it is."  
   
Kinley seemed to be considering her solution for a moment but ended up sneering. "Sorry, but I don’t think it will be as easy as that. I know you have connections." He wriggled his eyebrows knowingly. "Can’t risk you telling your celestial or demonic friends about what’s going on here. I worked too hard to get to this point. And besides, I’m sure She wouldn’t tolerate failure."  
   
Before Chloe could ask who exactly he was referring to, Kinley bellowed loudly.  
   
"Dromos! Care to show your pretty face?"  
   
To Chloe’s and Dan’s surprise, the supposedly missing Steve Harper came out of the room where the young man in search of help had just entered moments ago. Behind him came someone Chloe guessed to be Squee.  
   
Dromos looked at the detectives and at the scene displaying before him and seemed to rapidly understand the situation. "Well, well! What have we got here? If it isn’t the Devil’s girlfriend in person." He smiled wolfishly at Chloe then sent a displeased scowl Kinley’s way. "I thought you said you could pass as the former priest. You’ve put the whole operation in jeopardy. She won’t be happy when She learns that you screwed up. What am I supposed to do with them now?" he asked exasperatedly, gesturing at the two detectives. Kinley fidgeted at Dromos’ displeasure.  
   
Chloe had first thought Kinley to be in charge here, but it seemed that Dromos might be the one giving orders after all.  
   
For an endless moment, nobody talked nor stirred, waiting for Dromos to reach a decision.  
   
His cold order broke the stillness in the air. "Kill him! But I need her alive."  
   
Both detectives reached out for their guns at the same time. Chloe aimed at Dromos while Dan grabbed Kinley and put the barrel of his gun against his temple.  
   
"Stop or I’ll blow his brain out!" screamed Dan.  
   
The demons around already reaching for them hesitated. Chloe would have already killed Dromos if he hadn’t conveniently slipped behind a few demons to protect himself. For lack of better target, she kept her aim in his general direction while looking around, desperately searching for a way out. She didn’t know what Dan was hoping to accomplish with his threat, but strangely the demons seemed reluctant to attack.  
   
Dan chuckled. "Unlike what you want us to believe, I think it would be quite inconvenient for you to lose that new body, Father Kinley. Wouldn’t it? See, I don’t think it was by chance that you chose your old friend as a vessel. I think he is important to your plans and that you might need him to keep up appearances."  
   
For a few seconds, Kinley’s expression looked trapped and Chloe thought that they had a chance to get out of there alive. But then he nodded in surrender. "You want to kill me? So be it." He turned his crazy gaze on Chloe. "Yet you won’t be able to stop us. You can’t stop this new prophecy from happening. And I will be a part of it one way or another. I will come back! We will see each other again Chloe"  
   
Chloe had no doubt that he told the truth.  
   
"You heard him! Get the detectives!" Commanded Dromos.  
   
From there, everything happened quickly. Chloe started shooting at the growling demons coming at them while she saw Dan push Kinley away and shoot him straight in the head. Kinley’s body crashed into a group of attacking demons, delaying them efficiently for a moment.  
   
Aiming for the heads, Chloe brought a demon down with almost every shot she took. However, evaluating their numbers to at least forty, she knew there was too many of them to keep out of reach for long. At least the presence of the tables prevented them from attacking all at the same time. They had to get the hell out of there, and fast.  
   
"Dan!" she screamed over the tumult of grunting demons.  
   
Between two shots he was taking at the demonic horde, Dan looked back at her and got the message quickly when she motioned her head towards a side door not too far from him that probably led into another room. There was a table in their way and a few demons too, but it might be possible to reach it if they worked together.  
   
They positioned themselves back to back, Chloe facing away from the door, and started making their advance towards it. The moment Chloe shot the last bullet in her magazine, she knew she was screwed.  The lack of firing shots coming from Dan’s side told her that he was also out of bullets. The demons were way too close for them to recharge in time. Chloe blocked a fist coming at her and dodged another one as she heard Dan grunt under the impact of a body hitting him.  
   
Suddenly, there was a big crash behind her that drew the attention of every demons in the room. She chanced a glance towards the source to discover a snarling Maze standing in the busted doorframe of the exit they were trying to reach. She looked like a vengeful and beautiful apparition.  
   
"Maaaze!" Chloe screamed in desperate relief. She’d never been so happy to see her demonic friend.  
   
"Bring your ass here, Decker!" Ordered Maze.  
   
Without waiting for Chloe to answer, Maze jumped in the melee with her daggers out and made quick work of killing the two closest demons in their path.  
   
The distraction of Maze’s arrival had given them a few seconds to breathe, but now the demons were redoubling their efforts to reach their goal before it was too late. Dan and Chloe rushed towards their friend, kicking and punching their way through the increasing mass of demons coming at them, but the demons were way stronger than them, making their advance slow and tedious. While Chloe only had to fight demons who were trying to stop her, Dan on the other hand had to parry dagger attacks that aimed to kill him.  
   
Seeing that they were not going to make it, Maze grabbed the big wooden table still blocking their way towards freedom and toppled it over, bringing down with it a good number of the demons closest to them and momentarily blocking the way for the others. Then she rushed to their help and slit the throat of the two demons they were still fighting with.  
   
"Come on!" Maze prompted them to follow, leading the way.  
   
Maze’s stunt had gained them precious seconds and cleared a path for their escape. Chloe rushed behind Dan and towards the broken doorway.  
   
She was crossing the threshold behind Dan when strong hands grabbed around her torso and yanked her backwards.  
   
Chloe yelp in surprise and terror, hitting and kicking wildly at her attacker. She hit him a few times in the legs and even elbowed him in the guts, without much effects. His hold around her was unyielding. She was yanked away from the door and rapidly surrounded by other demons who blocked her way out. She saw Maze come back for her and try to make her way through to save her, but the mass of demons separating them was increasing by the second.  
   
"Stop squirming, little human," chuckled the demon at her ear. By the voice, Chloe recognised him as Dromos.  
   
"Chloeeeeeee!" The desperation in Maze’s scream told her that there was no hope for her anymore.  
   
A sinking feeling settled in her guts.  
   
 _She was doomed!_  
   
And there was nothing anyone could do about it anymore.  
   
The echo of Maze’s scream was still lingering in the air when a deep roar of fury resounded in the building, freezing into place every breathing beings.  
   
Fear and panic appeared on the demons’ faces around her as they understood which new threat they were about to face.  
   
A fraction of a second later, part of the ceiling crashed down over a couple demons’ heads, a few meters on Chloe’s left.  
   
A big red mass of leathered wings and fury fell down in the middle of the assembled demons and started bashing around wildly, punching a path towards Chloe.  
   
Chloe felt Dromos slacken slightly his hold around her, but she was too stunned by the hellish apparition to have the presence of mind to save herself.  
   
She only had eyes for _him_.  
   
 _For Lucifer._  
  
Who was standing before her in all his devilish glory,  
   
The Devil didn’t miss a stride as he walked to her and grabbed Dromos by the neck to hurl him through the room into the far wall some thirty feet away. The demon’s head hit the wall with a sickening sound and his body fell limply to the ground, unmoving.  
   
Lucifer turned his fiery gaze upon the demons still barring Chloe’s way to the side door, and growled at them in a deep and cavernous voice that sent chills throughout Chloe’s entire body. The demons in question scattered away in pure terror, leaving a clear path for her escape.  
   
Lucifer finally turned to look at her in the eyes. " _Run_!" he ordered.  
   
The command was backed by so much power that she felt a strong pull to obey. Yet, she remained still.  
   
Lucifer was there, right in front of her.  
   
She had dreamed of that moment so many times.  
   
She could touch him, even hold him in her arms...  
   
In that instant not even her own safety mattered more than being with him.  
   
Farther in the room, she heard someone give orders to attack.  
   
Lucifer’s second command took her out of her bewilderment.  
   
"GET OUT!" He bellowed.  
   
She felt fear in his voice this time, as well as even more power behind the words to make her obey.  
   
She took a reluctant step towards her friends waiting for her over the side door, then another.  
   
Now confident that she was at last listening to him. Lucifer turned away from her to stop the bravest demons already coming at them. He caught a few with a low strike of his right wing to block their advance, then proceeded at smashing the life out of them by dismembering them or bashing their heads on the tables or against one another.  
   
Reminded once more of the dangers she was facing, Chloe ran as hell through the path cleared by Lucifer. As soon as she crossed into the second room, a wall of fire erupted behind her back, effectively blocking any pursuing demons from following her.  
   
Chloe looked back into the main room to see that the wall of fire was actually encircling all the demons, preventing them from escaping the building. Cornered so, they all turned on the Devil to direct their rage at him. The fighting started up again with renewed vigor.  
   
With a dreadful feeling, Chloe realized that with her close by, Lucifer would be vulnerable to fire as well as to any kind of weapons.  
   
A wrenching fear for his life ripped her from the inside.  
   
"LUCIFER!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.  
   
"LUCIFER!"  
   
There was no more coherent thoughts in her mind, but that of the possibility that he could die in there.  
   
She felt someone clutching her from behind and dragging her away. She kicked blindly at her assailant, ready to fight her way back inside that burning room.  
   
"Stop it Decker! Are you losing your mind? We have to get out of here. Now!"  
   
Maze’s voice slowly pierced the mist inside Chloe’s brain, bringing her back to earth. Chloe was now crying and shaking all over. As much as she wanted to go and help Lucifer, she realized that she wouldn’t be of much help to him, instead being more of a hindrance really. Maze was right, the best thing they could do to help was get themselves to safety and making sure that she got quickly at a safe distance to insure his survival.  
   
Maze released her as soon as she stopped trashing about. Close by was standing Dan, his eyes round in shock, mouth slightly opened in stunned disbelief. He was fixing the wall of fire, probably still astounded of having seen the Devil in his devilish form.  
   
Tears still cascading along her cheeks, Chloe shook herself up and grabbed Dan’s arm to break the spell. "Come on! We need to go."  
   
Daniel followed her docilely. Led by Maze, they rapidly found a way out of the damned building and into to open air. Once outside, Chloe forced her friends to run with her a few block away until she was sure of being at a safe distance from Lucifer.  
   
By the time they stopped and turned around to look at the burning building, the flames were already coming out of the roof in a giant inferno.  
   
All that was left to do for Chloe now was to pray that she had not been too late and that Lucifer had gotten back his invulnerability in time... 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told you there was gonna be some action! I just hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I had fun writing it. Let me know with a comment or kudo if you liked it. Thanks for reading! :)


	7. Life Changing Experience

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is a very emotional chapter that I hope will be appreciated. Buckle up for the ride! Enjoy!

They continued watching from afar as the fire was raging wildly, consuming the old building and all its demonic occupants with it. At some point, an explosion resounded on the first floor in a crash of glasses and concreates; the kitchen most certainly, reasoned Chloe.  
   
She was doing her best to reign in the tears and sobs threatening to overcome her.  
   
Even Maze looked nervous by now.  
   
 _He should already be out!_  
  
 _What was taking him so long? Unless..._  
  
 _Unless she’d taken too much time to get out and away..._  
   
Not only had she been a tool to help send him back to Hell, but now she was the reason of his downfall!  
   
Her world was crumbling down into ashes, much as was the edifice before her.  
   
She gripped tightly the pendant that was now always around her neck, the one with the bullet representing Lucifer’s vulnerability towards her.  
   
Dan put a comforting hand over her shoulder and tighten his hold a little as if to help keep her up. The gesture only enhanced her distress.  
   
The firefighters arrived and started fighting the inferno. The building was certainly already lost by now, considering the strength of the supernatural fire, but the other edifices around could probably still be saved.  
   
The minutes dragged on interminably.  
   
Until...  
   
All of a sudden, the roof busted open in another small explosion from where the fire found its way out in an impressive outburst. But something else came out at the same time. To anyone else who wasn’t aware of supernatural phenomenon, it probably looked as a big white ball of light. But Chloe was too intent on searching for the slightest sign of him to miss discerning the massive pair of white wings emerging from the light and piercing the sky like a shooting star.  
   
The overwhelming relief that surged inside Chloe made her bent almost in two.  
   
"Did you see that? He made it out!" she gasped.  
   
"What are you talking about? I didn’t see anything." countered Daniel. He was looking everywhere to try to understand what she was talking about, but the two women ignored his interrogation.  
   
Mazikeen’s smile was triumphant. "Of course he made it. I never had a doubt in the world that he would."  
   
Chloe was too overjoyed to comment on her lie. She felt like she would burst with happiness.  
   
 _Lucifer was alive!_  
  
Nothing else mattered.  
   
However, he might be injured and in pain. She instantly fell from her high at that thought.  
   
She rounded on Maze like a predator on its prey. "Where has he gone?" She asked harshly.  
   
The demon shrugged dismissively. "How should I know?"  
   
"You want to make me believe that you don’t know? Why are you here anyway? And why was Lucifer here? You’ve been hiding things from me for days. Now talk!" Chloe’s handle on her emotions was slipping fast and her state of vulnerability was rapidly turning into one of frustration.  
   
Maze lifted an eyebrow as if surprised. "Are you saying you resent us from saving your life, Decker?"  
   
Chloe was standing almost nose to nose with her. "You know I’m thankful for that. Don’t play with me Maze! What were you doing here?"  
   
The demon sighed in exasperation. "Protecting your ass! What do you think? I’ve been tailing you for days at Lucifer’s request. Knowing how you tend to always attract trouble, he was afraid you would find some before long. Looks like he knows you all too well. When I finally understood what you’d gotten yourself into, I gave him a call and he rushed here to save the day."  
   
Lucifer had been afraid for her enough to send his demon to protect her? So at least he was still caring about her enough to want to insure her safety. There was at least that.  
   
Chloe asked again with slightly less anger in her voice, "so..., what is he doing here?" She wanted to add, _without me_ , but wasn’t trusting herself not to burst into tears at the words.  
   
Somehow, Chloe had the impression that Maze didn’t need to hear her say it to understand what she meant. The demon’s gaze shifted uncomfortably before she answered.  
   
"He’s looking for answers. Demons have been popping up top side for the past two weeks but Lucifer still can’t find out who is behind it. He was hoping to catch one here who could give him the answers that eluded him down there. Though until now, we haven’t been very lucky. We did catch a few, but strangely Lucifer couldn’t force any to answer before they escaped his hold and drifted back to Hell."  
   
Maze’s gaze went from Dan to Chloe inquiringly. "But how is it that you two found their nest so easily without even knowing what was going on?"  
   
Chloe rolled her eyes at her. "We’re not as oblivious as you would like to think. We knew demons were back at possessing people and I already figured out that Lucifer was back at his penthouse, if not since when." Dan started at hearing it. "He’s probably heading back there as we speak."  
   
Maze looked baffled by everything Chloe already knew. "Probably..." she acknowledged without thinking.  
   
 _Got you!_ Chloe thought. "So that’s where he’s going, hun?"  
   
Maze’s eyes bulged the second she understood her mistake. "Decker! You shouldn’t go after him. You’re going to make everything more complicated. You have to let him go."  
   
"I don’t care if I get hurt! I need to see him, Maze," she almost yell.  
   
Truth be told, Chloe didn’t think that she could hurt more than she already had over the past weeks, especially since considering the possibility that Lucifer might have stopped loving her. She was terrified to confront him about the truth of his feelings for her, but she had to, or else she feared that she would lose it entirely. As ugly as the truth could be, it was certainly better to be sure than to keep living with the uncertainty. Furthermore, she had to make sure that he was okay. Just the thought that he could be in pain was hurting her like a knife twisting into her guts.  
   
Maze was about to add something, but Chloe didn’t give her the occasion. "There’s nothing you could say that would make me change my mind. So I suggest you don’t try."  
   
Chloe thought she might have looked ready to pull off heads, because Maze closed her mouth and shut up. A first, for sure.  
   
Dan though didn’t seem to think that her warning applied to him. "Chloe, you don’t really plan to go to him?" Seeing her furrow her eyes dangerously at him, he quickly clarified his thoughts. "I mean, did you see him in there? He looked... he looked..."  
   
"Like the _Devil_!" She completed for him. "Because he _is_ the Devil, Dan. I know his Devil’s form is not pretty, but it’s still Lucifer we’re talking about. I can assure you that he doesn’t like that side of himself much more than you do. I will go to him, if only to make sure that he’ll be okay."  
   
Her tone didn’t let place for arguments and Dan seemed to catch on it. He took a deep breath that he released slowly. Chloe thought that he might want to start his pleading again. Instead, he nodded slowly, lips tightly closed into a tin line.  
   
When he talked again, it was with much less heat in his voice. "As long as you’re certain that it’s safe for you."  
   
"I could never be safer than with Lucifer. Believe me. The only danger I will be in though, would be to get my heart broken." She lowered her gaze and grimaced a little at her admission.  
   
That’s when she noticed all the blood over Dan’s left flank. "You’re hurt!" she blurted out.  
   
Before he could answer, she was already grabbing at his shirt to lift it up and evaluate the damages. He had a big gash over his abdomen that bled profusely.  
   
He tried to appease her worries. "I’m sure it looks worse than it actually is."  
   
"Damn, Dan! You got stabbed!" She was starting to feel ashamed of not having noticed his state before, too focussed was she on Lucifer’s predilection and her own distress.  
   
"Not stabbed, Chlo. It’s just a slash." He spread open the borders of the wound a little, hoping to reassure her by proving that it wasn’t too deep.  
   
As he’d already guessed, only the muscles looked to be damaged, which seemed to reassure Chloe greatly.  
   
She nodded a bit too forcefully and sniffed her tears back in.  "I’ll bring you to a hospital."  
   
Dan put a comforting hand over one of hers that was still holding his shirt up. "I’ll be okay, Chloe. Don’t worry about me, I can go by myself. Go to Lucifer. He might need you."  
   
She smiled at him with gratitude and kissed his cheek softly. "Thanks Dan!" She simply said.  
   
And then she was running to her car.  
 

* * *

  
   
The elevator’s doors opened on an apparently empty penthouse.  Chloe walked in slowly, warily, as much afraid to find him there as she was to discover that he was not.  
   
A rapid glance towards the bar told her that the half-full tumbler from last night was no more in sight. She swept her gaze around to find more proofs of his passage and noticed discarded clothes on the steps leading to his bedroom. Her breath caught up in her lungs and she froze mid-step beside the piano.  
   
The possibility that he might be there was becoming alarmingly real.  
   
Suddenly, she didn’t know anymore what she was hoping to achieve by coming to him. She knew she could not force him to love her again if he’d gotten over her, and she could certainly not blame him for it either. And yet, she felt anger rise inside her like a tsunami wave.  
   
A few seconds later, Lucifer appeared at the top of the stairs, hair still wet from a shower with only a towel wrapped around his hips. He had some burnt marks over his arms and legs, but nothing that looked too bad. He seemed otherwise unarmed.  
   
The sight of her stopped him from taking one more step. He just stood there, lower jaw dropped, with a stupid air of surprise painted all over his features. Chloe felt just too angry by now to show any surprise herself.   
   
He had the nerves to be stunned that she would come to him? _What a jerk!_  
   
Burning tears rapidly building in her eyes, Chloe didn’t wait for him to make excuses and just lashed out at him with all her pain and anger.  
   
"Was I just a fling to you?  It’s been what, about two years for you and now you’re already over me?" She gasped wetly in disbelief. "Was your love for me even real? Or maybe it’s a celestial thing to be able to stop loving as easily as that?"  
   
She could see that each and every one of her words were hurting him. _Good!_   She wanted him to feel her pain, and to feel ashamed of the way he was treating her.  
   
The anger left her a little, momentarily surpassed by a vulnerability she could not entirely control. "I was dreaming... praying, for another chance to see you, to love you. And you come back here, making your best to evade me, while I... while I’m hurting! Hurting because you’re not there, with me," she ended in a sob.  
   
The tears started spilling unrestrained over her cheeks.  
   
"Chloe..." he breathed, looking utterly confused.  
   
Of course he couldn’t find words to explain himself for such a coward way to treat her. His silence was just too much to bear.  
   
Chloe chuckled through her sobs. "You are such a bastard! I wish I could hate you, so I would not feel like this. Like I’m dying inside!"  
   
It took him out of his stupor.  
   
"Please don’t hate me!" he interjected at last with a broken voice.  
   
"Why? Because you don’t deserve it? Name one reason why I shouldn’t hate you for playing with me like you’ve been doing." She didn’t expect him to be able to name a single one.  
   
He hesitantly walked down the steps towards her, his troubled gaze never leaving hers.  
   
"I... I didn’t mean to hurt you, Chloe." His voice was shaking. "I thought... I thought my staying away from you was what you needed, what you desired."  
   
"What?" Chloe’s mind just couldn’t make sense of his words.  
   
Lucifer took a few more steps until he was standing right before her. He seemed to be stilling himself for was he wanted to say.  
   
"I won’t be staying, Chloe. I’ll only be here until I find out who is behind this little revolt. Then I’ll have to go back to Hell. You said you needed to let me go. How could my coming back to you for only a moment be any good to help you get on with your life? Tell me!"  
   
Chloe thought back on her prayer to him. She’d feared that telling him that had been a terrible mistake, and now it was revealing to be even worse. _She_ had created her own hell. It was all her fault!  
   
"You did it for me?" she asked in a small voice, then shook her head to clear her mind. "I thought that’s what _you_ needed, Lucifer. That it would help you go on for the long years to come. For a moment, I thought it could help me too. I really tried to let you go, but I just can’t! Deep down I know that there’s no way for me to ever accept completely that I lost you."  
   
Lucifer lifted a trembling hand to cup her cheek and wipe her tears with his thumb.  
   
"But you have to, Chloe. You deserve to have a beautiful life full of love, not to long for someone who will never come back. You were right, you have to let me go," he said tightly, emotion making the words hard to come out.  
   
"Because you don’t love me anymore?" she choked out in a sob.  
   
His face dropped in a horrified way.  
   
He framed her face with both hands and gazed into her soul through her azure eyes. "Chloe... My love for you is an everlasting flame that can never die. Even if you went on with your life and learned to love someone else, my heart would always be yours."  
   
Chloe let escape a gasping sob of relief at his confirmation of his love for her. She gripped the back of his neck with both hands to bring his forehead against hers. A few other uncontrolled sobs left her lips as she nuzzled his face. Lips hovering over each other’s, breaths mingling, the feel of him was incredible, overwhelming. The link she felt with that man was simply magical!  
   
She could hear and feel Lucifer’s breathing increase and become uneven as his hold over her face tightened.  She forced herself not to yield to the need of kissing him breathless. There was still too much left unsaid between them. She didn’t release him of her embrace when she talked again though, instead molding her body against his to feel his warmth.  
   
"Lucifer, don’t you understand, I could never be happy with anyone but you. I know you won’t be staying, but you’re here now, with me. Haven’t we lost enough time already? Don’t you think we deserve to make the most of the time that is given us? We can be together now! I’m ready to pay a lifetime of mourning if it means having you in my arms one more time and really be able to love you, and be loved by you. A night with you would be worth a lifetime with someone else. Hell! I would take only one more moment, if it meant to finally feel what being together really means."  
   
Lucifer closed his eyes as if in deep pain. He opened them again to drop his gaze to her lips while he tenderly caressed them with his thumb.  
   
His voice was barely above a whisper. "Just looking at you from afar those last few days, to touch you..." He swallowed hard and breathed deeply before pursuing. "If I have only one more taste of you... I fear it will drive me crazy to have to leave you again. My love for you is _killing me_!" he ended in a broken voice, eyes wild with desperation.  
   
They both gasped in pain as they buried their faces against each other’s neck and embraced even more tightly. Chloe could feel Lucifer’s body shake with each of his sobs which mirrored hers. Their distress lessen slightly at the feel of the other’s body and love.  
   
Once she thought to be able to speak again, Chloe released her hold around him to once more frame his face with her hands and look into his filled-up eyes.   
   
She put all her conviction behind her words. "Lucifer, I think what is killing us is not our love for each other, but all the missed opportunities, and what ifs. We’ve been denying this to ourselves way too long. My love for you is bright and powerful. If your love for me is as strong, then we should embrace it and make it real. Weather we share that love only for one night, one hour, or even only for a moment, I believe that the knowledge that it is real could give us the strength to face anything."  
   
He nodded softly as resolves seemed to harden his features. "I know for a certainty that your love for me is all I need. With it, I could face an eternity of loneliness."  
   
A bittersweet smile finally appeared on her lovely face in spite of the tears still escaping her shining eyes. "Then let’s create memories of our love that will last us forever..."  
   
A feeling of certainty washed over them both as they gazed into each other’s eyes. Whatever was going to happen in the future, whether they ever had the chance to be together again or not, they both knew that they would always have their love to face it.  
   
Their lips met halfway to claim each other. They both melted under the other’s passion. Any remaining doubts having been washed away, at last, they surrendered completely to that blinding love.  
   
As their kisses deepened, Chloe buried a hand into his hair to hold him close to her while roaming over his naked back and torso with the other. Lucifer was caressing her face and body in a tender yet feverish way, molding his half-naked self against her burning core. The feel of him was overwhelming, even dizzying. She moaned into his mouth, which earned her a deep groan of pure bliss.  
   
They both tuned down a little the sense of urgency that wanted to take over, neither of them wanting to rush that magical moment. They kept undulating their bodies slowly against each other for moment, revealing in the feel of them, kissing and nibbling every part of skin available.  
   
When Lucifer started unbuttoning her shirt slowly, Chloe walked him backwards towards his bedroom, her lips never leaving his skin. When the back of Lucifer’s knees hit the bed, she untied the towel around his lower body and let it fall to the floor. Only then did she stopped kissing him to admire what was hers.  
   
 _He was beautiful!_ Inside out.  
   
Hands holding her hips, Lucifer stopped moving, watching her gaze at him with an air of worship. He was just too moved by the way she was looking at him to think of making any innuendo. Chloe’s eyes moved back up to his, and she smiled adoringly.  
   
Without saying a word, she removed her now unbuttoned shirt and let it pool around her legs. Unhurriedly, she unclasped her bra under his ardent attention then took off her remaining clothes until she was standing naked before him.  
   
There was no more Devil not detective, only a man and a woman who belonged to each other and who wanted to share everything they were. In that instant, they forgot everything that wasn’t them, putting aside the pain and heartbreak that were waiting for them in the future. Nothing else mattered but to be together and to share their love for as long as they could.  
   
As if a signal had been given, their hands reached up to discover what had been denied to them all that time, and their bodies came together, skin to skin, in a maelstrom of new sensations.  
   
Just the feel of Lucifer’s skin against her breasts and her lower body was exhilarating, making goosebumps raise all over her skin. They had barely begun that already they were both panting into each other’s mouths. Her vision and mind were blurring with want. It wasn’t lust though, but a deeper feeling expressing a need to make one with him. To be one.  
   
Still standing, they relished in the new sensations for a long moment. Their senses seemed to be heightening with each new kiss, each touch, each sway of their bodies against the other’s burning skin.   
   
The rush of hormones invading her body was such that it became too dizzying for her to continue standing up. Chloe finally push him gently over the bed and climbed over him, her body swaying alluringly until she was straddling his hips. Lucifer held her hips firmly and grinded his lower body against hers. They both gasped at the incredible feeling. Lucifer’s eyes as well as Chloe’s were hooded with need. They burned to be joined at last, but both still wanted to bask in the magic of discovering each other before giving in to loosing themselves into that ultimate experience.  
   
Chloe started moving her hot and wet core languorously against his member. It elicited throaty whimpers of pleasure from their lips. Keeping the wonderful friction to a minimum as to not lose too much control over their bodies, they started kissing and exploring every part of their anatomy.  
   
They changed positions many times to discover each other with their hands and lips, taste every parcel of skin, and give pleasure with their mouths and fingers. They took their time in their exploration, putting to mind every details of the other’s body, every taste, every wonderful sensation created by the other’s touching and licking, and every sound of pleasure they created in the one they loved. They kissed and lost themselves in each other’s gaze and soul, basking in their new found bond.  
   
The switch from partners to lovers was surprisingly easy and fast to make, as if it was always meant to be.  
   
After a long time of exploring their bodies as if it was the last time, they finally reached a point where their entire beings were begging for more. Chloe took the initiative of straddling Lucifer once more. She plundered his lips in a searing kiss before inciting him to sit on his knees with her in his lap.  
   
She leant her head against his, their breaths mingling together. "I want to look into your eyes while I make love to you," she whispered with emotion.  
   
Lucifer’s eyes filled up with moisture at the surge of love overpowering him. He was usually very talkative while having sex, but what he was experiencing with Chloe was lightyears away from anything he’d ever known throughout his entire existence. She was showing him what making love really meant and it left him speechless.  
   
"Chloe, I..." was all he could say under the onslaught of emotions that threatened to overflow.  
   
"Shush!" She put a finger over his lips. "Just show me!" she breathed, as if understanding what he wanted to say.  
   
So he showed her what she meant to him. He showed her the strength of his everlasting love for her.  
   
They made sweet love, slow, and passionate, their bodies moving together in a lascivious dance that was a hymn to their love. Their lips only parted to nibble at the nearby skin, to moan and groan in pleasure, or to look more deeply into each other’s souls.  
   
They dragged it in length for as long as they could before the frenzy took them and their bodies raced towards completion. Their gazes never wavering, they tipped over the edge of pleasure together and fell into a blinding state of ecstasy.  
   
When they finally came down to Earth, all sweaty and still shaking in the aftermath of that life changing experience, they beamed in pure bliss at the love of their existence.  
   
They both knew that the bond they just created could never be broken by anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There it is, that long awaited reunion and new turn into their relationship. I didn’t want for their lovemaking to feel sexual but more like a sharing and a life changing experience. Let me know if you liked the way it turned out. I am not done with this story, and trouble will just pile up from now on. Thanks for reading and commenting.


	8. Basking in the Moment While it Lasts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit shorter than the last ones, but I wanted to release something before going camping for a few days. It’s full of disgusting fluff, ha! ha! Consider yourself warned. Now enjoy the read!
> 
>  

Chloe shifted her position a little to bring her leg further up his hip so she would feel him even more deeply inside her.  
   
She smiled softly at the wonderful feeling of completeness.  
   
They were both laying on their sides, facing each other, and rocking their hips ever so slightly to keep the amazing sensation alive.  
   
It seemed like they just couldn’t stop themselves since they started their love making hours ago. They were literally joined at the hip since then, making love over and over again without respite.  
   
Chloe forced her tired eyes open to admire her beautiful lover. In spite of the late hour of the night, a soft light in the bedroom’s background allowed her to see his lovely face well enough. He looked wide awake, eyes sparkling as he was looking at her like she were a goddess.  
   
She lifted a hand to caress his face tenderly.  
   
"I love you!" she said simply, because it was that simple.  
   
The smile he gave her in return illuminated the room with its brightness. She had reminded him of her love many times tonight, and it always got the same reaction out of him, as if it was something too amazing to process entirely.  
   
He leant into her and brushed his lips against hers in the sweetest of kisses. He lingered there a moment, savoring the feel.  
   
"You have absolutely no idea of the strength of my love for you!" he whispered, lips still hovering above hers. "It’s like a burning fire that’s taken control over my very being."  
   
She beamed brightly at his colorful declaration of love. "I think I’m starting to get the idea...," she teased, rocking her hips a little more forcefully against him.  
   
Oh yes! She now understood the depth of his love for her. How could she not with the way he had made love to her throughout the night. Never had she felt so thoroughly loved and worshiped in all her life. The way Lucifer loved was mind-blowing! Soul consuming! And all she wanted was to continue basking in that love forever.  
   
They lost themselves once more into each other’s gazes while they continued moving very softly together, until her eyelids felt too heavy to keep her eyes open anymore.  
   
Lucifer chuckled as he kissed both her closed eyelids. "Go to sleep, My Love! You look dead tired."  
   
"Nooo!" she complained drowsily. "I don’t want to. Our night is not over yet. There’s still a few hours left before dawn."  
   
"Then you could just let yourself drift away a little bit to recover some strengths while I stay warm inside you." He kissed her shoulder tenderly. "I promise I won’t move too much. You might not even notice I’m in there."  
   
She giggled at the improbability. "I doubt that very much. Why don’t you try to keep me awake instead?" she said suggestively.  
   
"My, my! You really are insatiable, Darling! We’ll just have to work on your stamina then."  
   
She felt him smile against her neck as he was slowly kissing his way to her ear, his hips still moving at the same slow pace but a bit more intensely. The electric sparks ignited by his ministrations helped dissipate some of the fogginess enveloping her brain.  
   
Her tired-filled hands started once more to caress his soft skin over his back and arm. Her eyes opened up when she touched one of his burnt marks on his left forearm. She’d almost forgotten all that happened earlier; the demons, the fire, Lucifer almost dying to save her...  
   
A shiver ran through her at the memory of almost losing him for good.  
   
She kept stroking him delicately around the second degree burn and deposited a soft kiss on his bicep. "What took you so long inside that building anyway? You gave me the fright of my life," she chastised.  
   
Lucifer must have heard the fragility in her voice as she said it, because he grimaced apologetically when he raised his eyes back to hers. "I’m very sorry, Love. It wasn’t my intention, but I had to question those demons to find out who was behind that revolution."  
   
"And did you, find who’s behind it?" As much as she wanted him to eliminate the threat, on the other hand she was far from looking forward to him closing that case and leaving her once more.  
   
The rhythm of their bodies slowed down even more with the seriousness of their discussion.  
   
Lucifer sighed discouragingly as he nuzzled her neck and settled there. She felt his voice vibrate against her upper thorax as he spoke again.  
   
"No!" he admitted. "I couldn’t make them talk before they finally slipped away back to Hell once they understood that it was their only way out of my reach. Which is more than strange actually. They should have obey me and answer any and all of my questions. I am their King and was using my full power over them. I don’t understand what happened..."  
   
Lucifer had become still, too absorbed by the mystery that represented those demons’ behavior.  
   
Chloe could certainly not hope to give him any insight into that, but there was something she could give him. "At least I learned that they are answering to a female entity, demon or otherwise."  
   
Lucifer immediately straightened himself up on one elbow to glare at her in utter surprise. "What? How can you know that?"  
   
Chloe rested a hand on the side of his neck to help keep him calm. "Dromos and Father Kinley referred to her as SHE, whom they feared would not be very happy to know that I found them."  
   
Lucifer’s eyes bulged even more at the mention of the priest. "Father Kinley? You must be mistaken. The man was killed by Eve!"  
   
Chloe shook her head vehemently. "There’s no mistake possible, Lucifer. It wasn’t his body, but the things he said..., it couldn’t be anyone else. He also explained having been turned into a demon."  
   
Too disturbed by the news to stay still, Lucifer rolled onto his back then climbed out of bed to pace back and forth around the room.  
   
He brought a hand to his forehead as if it could help him process the information. "I knew Kinley escaped his cell, right before Dromos and Squee did too. They clearly received help from someone. I looked for them everywhere in Hell without finding any clues of their whereabouts or that could point to a possible accomplice. But if Kinley really has been turned into a demon, which really seems likely from what you just told me, then it changes everything, because besides me, there’s only one other being who can achieve that..."  
   
Lucifer stopped walking around to face her, clearly disturbed.  
   
" _Lilith!_ " he breathed.  
   
Without knowing who Lilith was, Chloe could at least guess her dangerousness just at the way Lucifer said her name. She sat up in bed with the sheet wrapped around her as if it could protect her from that new threat. She let Lucifer digest the news for a moment before asking the most obvious question.  
   
"What is she?"  
   
Lucifer answered with a faraway air, eyes unfocused. "She is the very first demon. The mother of all the infernal host. That must be why she somehow succeeded at turning some of them against me, even if it should be impossible. It somehow seems logical that she would be the one to defy my authority, even though I can’t understand why she would do it now, after all that time bowing down to me. She is very strong, probably the strongest of them all, and the most dangerous."  
   
He went silent for a moment, gaze lost in the past.  
   
"I forbade her to turn souls into demons not long after I first arrived in Hell and until now, I don’t think she ever went around my orders. Even back then, I couldn’t bear the idea that an evil soul could be rewarded for the horrors it perpetrated on Earth. Only very few demons were made that way in the beginning, the rest having been created from scratch. I don’t understand what she could expect to gain by turning Father Kinley into one though."  
   
Chloe cut into his musing. "Actually, I might have an idea about that."  
   
That brought his attention back to her. She made her way to the end of the bed on her knees until she was right in front of him.  
   
"Father Kinley talked about another prophecy, which he said was part of his destiny. He also seemed sure that nothing could stop it from happening. Maybe Lilith needed him for it to happen."  
   
Lucifer pursed his lips in disdain and sat heavily on the end of the bed beside her. "Another bloody prophecy! I can’t believe this!" He carted a hand through his already messy hair.  
   
Chloe wrapped her arms around his torso from behind in a comforting embrace.  
   
"I’m sure there’s a way around that prophecy and we will find it, Lucifer." She buried her head in the crook of his neck as she tightened her hold around him.  
   
He brought one of her hands to his lips to kiss it. "I’ll make sure of it, Love," he said unsteadily.  
   
Then he took a deep shuddering breath and stood up, turning towards her.  
   
"I have to go, now!" he said with conviction.  
   
Then he was already walking into his closet to retrieve some clothing.    
   
Chloe felt panic rise from the pit of her stomach. "What? You’re already leaving? But, must you really go now?"  
   
He answered her while getting dressed. "Remember that time flows very differently in Hell. Hours go by down there while it’s only minutes here. I can’t risk delaying even for a minute longer than necessary. Who knows what Lilith could be doing as we speak? It shouldn’t take me very long from your point of view though. I just need to go down there and have her arrested. You won’t even have time to miss me that I’ll be back."  
    
"You’ll come back?" She asked in a small voice, not daring to interpret what it could mean.  
   
Lucifer was back before her as he was putting his jacket on. Cupping her cheek, he smiled at her tenderly. "Our night is not over yet, Love. I’ll be back in no time and we’ll pick up where we left off. And besides, I have some clean up to do here. There are probably still some demons on the loose in L.A. who need to be brought back to Hell. I might even have to stay here for a few more days." He wriggled his brows at her suggestively.  
   
Chloe fought her tears back in. "That would be wonderful." She managed to say faintly.  
   
She reached up to Lucifer and started buttoning his jacket for him, and he let her. When she was done, she kept her hands over his torso and looked at him with tears in her eyes.  
   
"Promise me you’ll be careful," she whispered.  
   
He took her hands in his and lowered himself at her level on one knee. "You shouldn’t worry about me, Love. I am the King down there, as powerful as I am sexy." He winked at her playfully to diffuse the tension.  
   
She chuckled without any real heart in it.  
   
Then he became serious again, searching her eyes. "But just in case I find myself delayed by some complications, and am not back quickly, let’s say in thirty minutes, then I want you to call Maze." He chuckled a little without any joy reaching his eyes. "I can’t possibly leave you alone for longer than that without you risking to head into trouble. I’m even surprised to have found you still alive after two months without me."  
   
She rolled her eyes at him in feigned exasperation.  
   
"But more seriously...," he began softly.  
                                                                                      
Still holding one of her hands against his heart, he reached behind her head to bring her forehead against his. Chloe mirrored his movement by burying her free hand into his curly hair. They half-closed their eyes to bask into each other’s presence for a moment.  
   
He resumed what was on his mind, "...I can’t risk you, My Love. Those demons could have killed you today..." His voice cracked on those words.  
   
Caressing his still messy hair, Chloe cleared her tight throat. "It looked like a close call, it’s true, but I don’t think my life was in any real danger. Dromos wanted me alive for some reasons."  
   
"Using you against me doesn’t sound any better, does it?"  
   
Chloe grimaced. He had a point.  
   
He narrowed his eyes at the information. "The question is, what is Lilith trying to achieve exactly?" Neither of them had any answer to offer.  
   
"Do you really expect to find trouble down there?" she ventured after a few seconds of silence.  
   
He kissed her forehead tenderly before resting his head against hers once more. "I just need to know you’re safe," he whispered.  
   
Chloe nodded silently, noticing how he’d evaded answering her question truthfully. She released her hand from his grasp to wrap it around his back and bring him into a tight embrace, burying her face against his neck. She held onto him for a long moment, as desperately as Lucifer was. She felt like she would never be ready to let him go. But she had to.  
   
"Okay!" she voiced unsteadily after finally releasing him enough to look into his eyes. "Only for a few minutes then."  
   
Lucifer smiled at her encouragingly, lips tight. He didn’t want to leave her any more than she wanted to see him go, even if it was only for a brief moment.  
   
Chloe brought his head back to her to capture his lips in a loving kiss full of longing. They had to part way too soon to their liking, both feeling the urgency calling him to leave.  
   
Chloe forced a smile on her face. "Don’t make me wait too long or I might fall asleep." Somehow she doubted it could ever happen.  
   
A smile crept up at the corner of his lips. "Then maybe you could get into the shower to stay awake. I might even be back in time to join you." He wriggled his brows playfully to make her smile.  
   
It had the intended effect, yet Chloe didn’t answer, instead looking deeply into his eyes.  
   
Lucifer swallowed hard and stood up. He forced himself to turn his gaze from hers and to walk down into the living room. He turned back to face Chloe who was following his every moves and then spread his angel wings out.  
   
"See you in a few, Love," he assured her steadily.  
   
They only had time to smile at each other that he was already gone.  
   
Chloe waited.  
   
And waited.  
   
And waited.  
   
Seconds turned into minutes, minutes turned into hours, yet still no sign of Lucifer...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, well! Looks like trouble is already there. I’m so excited to have you discover what I have in store for them. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, as short as it might be. Thanks for reading, and commenting.
> 
>  


	9. Unexpected Developments

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At last I’m back from camping and hurried to write a small chapter as soon as I had the opportunity. It’s shorter than usual, but I’m hoping it will be to your liking. So enjoy my friends!

 

Lucifer was walking down the dark corridors of his fortress at a fast pace, followed by a group of ten guards armed to the teeth. After landing directly in the court room, he hadn’t wasted a minute in gathering his escort, among which were some of his most loyal followers.  
   
They made their way down, deeper and deeper into the depth of the Earth where only a few torches casted a flickering light along the way to lead them through one of the less visited part of Hell. Because there, resided the most feared creature of the hellish realm, yet the most revered. The way the Mother of Demons had raised her children had left them in awe and fear of her for thousands of years.  
   
Lucifer had to admit that he too had been in awe of Lilith upon his arrival in Hell. She was strikingly beautiful and enticing, so much so that she had almost snared him into her web at the beginning. Yet, he’d never succumbed to the desires that she tried to make arise inside him. Even the ruthless and heartless Devil that he was at that time could feel that she was an evil and tricky creature that he should be most wary of.  
   
Lucifer had always remained aware of the danger she represented, which brought him to keep his distances from her as much as possible. He’d imposed limits on her with regard to the number of demons she could create, but had let her free reign over the management of the hellish hordes as she’d asked. As long as the job of tending to the damn souls was fulfilled adequately, and that she abided by his rules, he was willing to grant her wish. He’d kept a close eye on her for a long while though, until he was certain that she was fulfilling her end of their bargain. He’d obviously made a big mistake by letting his guard down lately. A mistake that he was about to rectify.  
   
The entry to Lilith’s den was not guarded by any demons when Lucifer crossed the threshold. In spite of the faint lighting illuminating the cave, he spotted easily six armed demons spread out around the place as well as the Mother of Demons herself in her human appearance, sprawled lazily upon what appeared to be a throne at the far end of the wide room. He could hardly say how long it had been since he’d set foot down here, but he was certain there had never been a throne back in the time. He didn’t recall either the strange symbols drawn all over the rocky floor. Yet, he remembered well enough the feeling of dread that emanated from the place.  
   
Lilith’s demons fingered the scimitars at their hips the second Lucifer set foot inside. However, a silent order from their Mother kept them from drawing their weapons out. To his surprise, Lucifer recognised among Lilith’s demons one he just saw in the court room less than fifteen minutes ago. One of her spy for sure. Which would mean that she’d been expecting his visit. Certainly not a good thing. Lucifer sharpened his senses to detect any immediate danger, but felt none.  
   
The Devil stopped his advance in the middle of the room, and motioned his guards to take a stance to protect him.  
   
" _Lilith!_ " he spat in disdain.  
   
The Mother of Demons displayed her teeth widely in what was supposed to be a smile before standing up mightily. She walked a few paces towards him, staying a safe distance away from an obviously furious Devil.  
   
"My King, what a wonderful surprise!" She almost seemed happy to see him.  
   
But Lucifer wouldn’t let himself be fooled by that vile creature. His fiery eyes flared up and his Devil’s face flickered into life under the strength of his rage.  
   
" _I know what you are fomenting, Lilith!_ " his voice thundered cavernously.  
   
His anger seemed to be fuelling her excitement. "Oh do you?" she purred, her green eyes sparkling with glee.   
   
"I know that you have released Father Kinley, Dromos, and Squee from their cells, and that you are defying my authority first by turning a soul into a demon, then by possessing humans once more. I won’t have it! You know very well that Earth is off limits. I’ve always treated you differently from the other demons and given you more freedom, but this time you’ve gone too far. Did you really think I would let that go unpunished?" The Devil walked menacingly towards her until there was only a few feet separating them.  
   
She irritatingly smiled at him without an ounce of fear in her eyes. "Because you think you could stop me?" she said confidently.  
   
"Oh I will...," he promised hauntingly.  
   
There was nothing he wanted more than to wipe that frustrating smile off her face right now, but he needed answers to some questions that were still disturbing him and he knew that she would stop talking as soon as he arrested her. So he had to manoeuvre her into revealing some of her secrets before he made any real move.  
   
Lucifer shook his head and smirked at her condescendingly. "Affiliating yourself with the likes of Dromos... How can you even trust him knowing that he came and begged me to take back my throne, saying how bad things were down here while I was away? That one will betray you in the blink of an eye."  
   
Lilith giggled happily at his false conceptions. "I don’t think so. You see, I knew very well what Dromos was doing when he went to look for you on Earth. I even encouraged him, telling how much we needed our king back. Dromos was the perfect tool to use for that purpose. I was well aware that he was finding it difficult to have to bow down to his mother every day since you left us. He always resented me for the way I raised him. Which one of my children doesn’t really?" She chuckled in amusement. "Still, they all come back to me in the end. Am I not their loving mother after all? And it isn’t any different with Dromos, but he has always been a tad more emotional than the others and he had a soft spot for you. So like I said, the perfect demon for the job!"  
   
Lucifer was more than confused. "You wanted me back in Hell so you could try to take over the Earth? That was your great plan?"  
   
Lilith shook her index at him. "Not try. It has already be written."  
   
"You’re talking about that bloody new prophecy I suppose?" There he was getting at the core of what he wanted to know. Lucifer held his breath and kept his features as neutral as he could manage to not let her see his interest.  
   
Lilith seemed way too eager to share about it to care. "Not a new one, a very old one. It is written that... « _When the Devil comes back to Hell, the Mother of Demons will rise from the depths of the Earth and at last claim her rightful place_ ». So you see how it was always meant to be. There is nothing you can do anymore that would keep me from fulfilling that prophecy." She was almost bouncing with excitement.    
   
Lucifer was truly starting to get worried. "All those years, I have given you the freedom that you demanded, and free reigns over the control of the hordes. What do you think you’re going to find on Earth that you don’t already have here in Hell?"  
   
She smirked at his incomprehension. "I’m not doing this against you, Lucifer." She sounded almost apologetic. "You have been a good King all those years, but Hell has become too small for the both of us. I am done answering to you. I was doing just fine managing Hell without you those last years. So now, I will create a new world where I will rule without interference."  
   
"If you think I’m going to let you ruin humanity, think again!" he warned dangerously.  
   
She had the nerves to look surprised. "Who talked about ruining it? I will just start the punishment of humans before they end up in Hell. You might even want to thank me eventually since you could get fewer souls down here once I’m done with them. I will help humanity find its way to Heaven!"  
   
Lucifer couldn’t believe his ears. "You’re trying to make me believe that your goal is to help humanity? You’re just enjoying the torturing of souls and now you want to extend it to human beings."  
   
"Well, there is that," she admitted easily, "but you can’t deny that it would come in handy in helping humans to behave themselves."  
   
" _I’ve heard enough!_ " Lucifer snarled in anger. He’d reached the end of his patience. "I will stop you. _Now!_ "  
   
Almost shaking with fury at Lilith’s crazy speech, Lucifer tapped into his celestial force to bring forth his full devilish appearance, demonic wings out and all, in a demonstration of power. In an instant, he was standing mightily over Lilith, about to attack her with all his strength.  
   
Lilith only took a few paces back away from him and spoke some demonic words under her breath. In the same motion, she reached inside a pocket and brought out a handful of shining powder on which she blew in Lucifer’s direction. Instantly, the red powder dispersed and seemed to hit an invisible wall separating them.  
   
By then, Lucifer’s guards had already got the cue and were attacking Lilith’s demons. Against all odds, three of the Devil’s owns actually turned on their fellow companions, stabbing them from behind. The tide was rapidly turning in Lilith’s favor as Lucifer’s escort was decimated.  
   
The unlikely betrayal steered even more the Devil’s fury who took a swing at Lilith with his right wing, only to get stopped by a field of force. He tried to punch through it, but the barrier stood strong against his might. Lucifer looked around him with a rising panic to discover a slightly shining dome surrounding him.  
   
 _He was trapped!_  
  
Lucifer cursed at his own stupidity. Only now did he understand that the symbols on the floor were of the magical kind and drawn into a circular pattern. He had docilely walked right into Lilith’s trap!  
   
" _What do you think you’re doing?_ " he bellowed in fury. "You know you can’t keep me in here eternally. I will get out eventually and when I do, _I’ll kill you_!" he swore.  
   
Lilith smiled in utter satisfaction at her great achievement. She waited until all of Lucifer’s guards were dead to walk back unhurriedly towards the Devil until they stood only a foot apart. She locked gaze with him defiantly.  
   
"No you won’t! And you know why?" she asked smoothly. When she saw that Lucifer was not going to dignify her with an answer, she continued in a whisper, as if telling him a great secret. "Because I know your greatest weakness, what you love more than your own life. Should you only think of stopping me, I would take it away from you in a heartbeat."  
   
Real fear such as he’d never experienced in his existence coursed through his entire being.  
   
Lucifer started hammering the magical wall keeping him prisoner with the energy born of despair. " _If you touch her, I will do so much worse than kill you! You will wish that you were never born!_ " he screamed, out of himself.  
   
"I’ll take my chances." She simply said with that infuriating little smile.  
   
Then Lilith left the room, leaving some guards behind to watch over a screaming Devil who was lashing out in uncontrolled fury.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, well! It looks bad for our Devil. Hoping you like this little chapter. Thanks for reading and commenting. Your feedbacks are my reward for writing this story and each of them make my day.


	10. Celestial Help

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At last, here is my new chapter. I got caught up into my other story, Back from the Shadows, for which I decided to write two chapters before coming back to the present story. However, I wrote you a long chapter this time to make amends. The action is just starting really. Lots is still coming up.
> 
> Now place to the story. Enjoy!

 

Something was wrong, very wrong!  
   
After getting out of the shower and still not seeing Lucifer back, Chloe already had a foreboding feeling that something terrible had happened. She first put it on the predictable if somehow unjustified anxiety of a love-sick human unable to grasp this whole celestial situation well enough to put everything into perspective. But as the minutes went by and there was still no sign of her lover, Chloe’s whole world rapidly started crumbling around her.  
   
By the time the thirty minutes mark was reached, Chloe was just a hysterical weeping mess.   
   
Maze had barely understood anything of her frantic babbling when she’d woken her up on the phone at about 3:30 in the morning, but the name Lilith and the information that Lucifer was missing mentioned in the same sentence had the demon up and already reaching for her weapons in a heartbeat.  
   
Maze’s fearful reaction did nothing to lessen Chloe’s panic, yet at least her demonic friend seemed to have sufficient hold over her emotions to start putting into motion a plan of action. She was first going to wake up Dan, who had apparently borrowed her couch last night after taking care of the messed-up situation at _The Shepherd’s Shelter_ _and getting his injury stitched up. He’d been insistent on staying close to Beatrice in case anything happened while Chloe was away. Maze would have him take the child to Amenadiel for protection and suggest that the angel leave town with her and his family until further notice._  
  
 _It didn’t take long for the demon to arrive at the penthouse, wearing an air of someone ready to kill anything in her path._  
  
"How long do you think he’s been down there by now?" asked Chloe unceremoniously as soon as her demonic friend got out of the lift.  
   
"More than a day, that’s for sure." Maze confirmed darkly as she walked straight to the bar to pour herself a drink, even though the sun wasn’t even up yet.  
   
Chloe followed her like a lost puppy, sniffing her tears back in as much as she could.  
   
Seeing the state of distress she was in, Maze softened her features and tone. "Don’t take me wrong, Chloe, there could very well be a perfectly logical explanation for Lucifer’s delay. He is probably just having a hard time finding Lilith down there. After all she is a real deceptive bitch that one. I just can’t take any risks with yours and Trixie’s safety. _There is nothing Lilith wouldn’t do to get to Lucifer if she knows he’s after her._ "  
   
Chloe had never seen the fearless Mazikeen look so scared of anyone. Lucifer had also looked fearful of her, to a certain point. She reached for the bottle of whisky and poured herself a generous amount before taking a long swallow, her hands shaking uncontrollably. Maze only lifted an eyebrow at her behaviour. The demon had gotten used to Chloe’s alcoholic abuses of late, which didn’t mean it didn’t worry her though.  
   
"Is Lilith that dangerous? I understand that she is special, the Mother of all Demons..." Chloe just realized the meaning of what she was saying.  
   
Turning her gaze back to Maze’s, she saw in her eyes emotions that she could hardly connect to the demon she knew.  Maze looked... small and vulnerable. Chloe stayed silent for a moment, not knowing how to approach that subject that seemed to rattle her friend so much.  
   
"She is your mother..." Chloe said softly.  
   
Maze snorted and rolled her tormented eyes at the title Chloe used. "Lilith doesn’t deserve to be called a mother! She created me, yes, and trained me, but she never acted as a mother. At least not in the way you’re used to."  
   
Chloe gently covered with her hand one of Maze’s that was resting on the counter. "Will you tell me about her?" she asked softly. She needed to know more about the threat that Lilith posed, yet was reluctant to push Maze into talking about something visibly so tough for her to broach.  
   
Maze kept her hand still under Chloe’s, while gripping the side of the counter tightly in apparent distress. She started talking without making eye contact with Chloe.  
   
"Lilith is... cruel, and as cold as a being can be. You could say that I don’t have the best mother-daughter relationship with her." She chuckled derisively at her understatement. "None of my siblings do I suppose. She raised us... ruthlessly!"  
   
Maze giggled almost maniacally at the recollection of her youth. "How do you think a demon is raised to become a heartless torturer, Decker? Certainly not with cuddles and love!"  
   
She turned to stare at Chloe right in the eyes to confide her worst memories in a small voice. "Whenever I couldn’t reach her ever unattainable expectations during my training, she would starve me, beat me almost to death to toughen me, or lock me up inside a cold and dark cell for an endless amount of time... I always felt like she was pushing me harder than the others, but I guess we all felt that way somehow."  
   
Chloe was speechless in front of the horrors her friend had endured for who knew how long. She squeezed Maze's hand in silent support.  
   
Maze didn’t react, lost in her musing. "Every last one of her children fear and love her. I guess it’s the kind of twisted relationship that can’t be avoided."    
   
"I’m so sorry Maze, it’s horrible..." Chloe finally voiced.  
   
Maze startled at her comment. "Don’t be sorry for me, Decker! Lilith made me into what I am today, which is the strongest demon of them all. As hard as it has been for me, she was probably right to raise me that way."  
   
Chloe shook her head vehemently. "None of that was right Maze. You didn’t deserve to be tortured like that. There are other ways to train someone."  
   
Maze faintly smiled in appreciation of Chloe’s support. "Not for demons apparently. But thanks for the sentiment. I didn’t tell you this to make you feel sorry for me though, but to make you understand who we are up against. Lilith is very dangerous and heartless. There is no length to which she wouldn’t go to reach her goal, whatever that might be."  
   
Chloe had gotten that part alright. "What’s her story anyway? How did she come to be so ruthless?"  
   
Maze told her how Lilith had been Adam’s first wife then banished from Heaven by God for not submitting to the role that He had determinate for her, only to be assigned a new role as the Mother of all demons.  
   
"As you can see, God himself saw the darkness of her soul and designated her to become the first and greatest torturer that would ever be, be it to torture human souls or her own children... "  
   
Chloe not only understood that but also something else that Maze was leaving out of her story, be that intentionally or not. "So that’s why Eve was created? Because Lilith wouldn’t play her part in God’s grand design?"  
   
She saw Maze’s attitude switch to a softer one as she nodded and lowered her eyes to her forgotten glass of alcohol. "I guess Eve was the best thing that came out of that whole mess."  
   
Chloe said softly and very carefully, "you miss her, don’t you?"  
   
The moisture that instantly pooled up inside Maze’s eyes was confirmation enough. Yet she scoffed and snorted in dismissal. "What are you talking about, Decker? I swear if Dan told you any craziness, I’m gonna rip him apart!"  
   
"Please don’t be mad at him, Maze. He’s actually worrying about you. I’m just ashamed not to have noticed before by myself how much she meant to you. I was too engrossed into my own misery to even notice. And for that I am sorry. I should have been there for you." Chloe let go of her tumbler to hold Maze’s hand tightly with both of hers.    
   
Maze didn’t try to deny her feelings anymore and just sighed and closed her eyes to try and keep her tears in check.  
   
"I’ll be okay, Chloe," she finally said unsteadily.  
   
Chloe sent her an encouraging smile when Maze opened her eyes again. "I know you will."  
   
After a long moment of emotional silence, Chloe released Maze’s hand and stilled herself for what she was about to ask of her friend.  
   
"From everything you’ve told me about Lilith, I am even more inclined to think that something bad may have happened to Lucifer. He’s been gone way too long and you know it." Maze’s shifty eyes told her that she’d reached exactly the same conclusion.  
   
Chloe took another long swallow of her alcoholic beverage before setting the tumbler down on the bar and staring Maze down with a dark tormented gaze. "You need to go down there and help him!"  
   
Maze opened her mouth and closed it a few times before answering. "Lucifer can take care of himself. He would want me to protect you, Chloe."  
   
"I appreciate your concern, Maze, I really do, but right now Lucifer needs you more than I do. _Please_ , bring him back to me!" Chloe was close to losing her countenance. She saw that her words were reaching her friend, but that she was still reluctant to go against Lucifer’s will. "There has to be another way to keep me safe, maybe there’s someone else who could watch over me while you’d be gone?"  
   
Maze’s brows furrowed in deep thought at her suggestion. "There could be..." she vaguely mused. A plan was starting to form in her mind. "Maybe Amenadiel could drop me off in Hell before leaving town. It would only take him less than a minute after all."  
   
Hope was starting to blossom inside Chloe’s heart. "That sounds like a good plan. Who do you have in mind to watch over me exactly?"  
   
Maze was frowning uncertainly. "I’m not even sure she would accept, but Lucifer said he reconnected with her not long ago. Maybe she’d be willing to protect you, knowing what you represent to him."  
   
"And would that person be strong enough to fight against demons if it comes to it?"  
   
Maze smiled devilishly. "Oh yes! She might not look like it, but she has been defying demons for thousands of years and always got away mostly unscratched. I can assure you that The Angel of Death is a real piece of work!"  
 

* * *

  
   
Chloe was left standing bemused after Maze’s departure for Hell with Amenadiel. The petite Asian-looking woman before her looked like nothing threatening at all. Quite the contrary actually. If Chloe hadn’t seen her wings when she first appeared when Amenadiel called her, Chloe would not even believe she was an angel.  
   
Azrael was smirking uneasily, shifting from foot to foot at Chloe’s scrutiny. It was quite awkward.  
   
Chloe broke the ice. "Sooo, Angel of Death, hun?"  
   
"Yep! That’s a job like any other really." The angel forced a smile on her face.  
   
"I guess so," Chloe commented uneasily.  
   
After another awkward moment of silence, Azrael tried to lessen the tension. "I’m glad Lucifer finally made a move on you. I really think you’re good for him."  
   
Chloe could feel that the angel’s words were genuine. "Actually, it was more the other way around if you ask me." She winked with some embarrassment.  
   
Azrael beamed at her in understanding. "I should have known. And it’s a good thing that you did, otherwise I fear it would have taken an eternity for Lucifer to acknowledge his feelings for you. My brother is emotionally constipated!"  
   
Chloe giggled at the imagery that rang so close to the truth. She decided to avoid pursuing that subject, fearing that she would have way too much to say concerning her partner’s way of dealing with his emotions.  
   
"Soooo," she started instead, "I get that you’re going to accompany me at work until Maze returns with Lucifer? We could say that you’re my cousin and that you wanted to experience a detective’s work day."  
   
Azrael literally squirmed at her suggestion. "Haaa, yiiish! Not sure that it would be such a good idea for me to walk around like that with you... I’d much prefer to stay in the shadows, so to speak. I’ll just stay close to you even though you won’t be able to see me."  
   
Chloe wondered why the angel seemed so reluctant to walk into the open. Sure she looked very nervous around her, but still, it couldn’t be that bad to spend a few hours among humans.  
   
Azrael added almost as an afterthought. "Oh! And it could help me surprise any demon who could come after you."  
   
Chloe guessed it could be a good advantage.  
   
After a few tests to see how it would work, the detective was reassured that The Angel of Death could really be invisible while still being able to talk to Chloe if necessary without other people even hearing her. It was quite baffling.  
   
Chloe had already received a texto confirming that Amenadiel was back from his short trip to Hell where he’d dropped Maze at a safe distance from the main fortress. He was probably already heading out of town by now with her daughter. Chloe couldn’t refrain a little shudder of fear for her child’s safety, but she trusted Amenediel completely to do everything and beyond to keep her safe.  
   
Feeling utterly useless to be waiting like that at doing nothing, and knowing that she would never be able to catch any sleep anyway, Chloe decided to go to the precinct early. She got there before 6 o’clock, after a little detour at her place to change into clean clothes. Dan was already at his post, having preferred to head there directly after dropping Trixie at Amenediel’s.  
   
Dan stopped his reading of a file when she reached his desk. There were numerous documents spread out before him and she caught a glimpse of Father McMahon’s picture on one. Dan was obviously already researching the priest that Father Kingly had possessed.  
   
"Hey Chlo! How are you holding up?" he asked with real worry in his eyes.  
   
Chloe bit her lower lip worriedly, not knowing how to answer her ex. He seemed to understand the silent answer nonetheless.  
   
He smirked sheepishly. "Sorry, don’t answer that."  
   
He decided to distract her instead of pushing with his inquiry. "I was waiting for you before heading back for the Shelter where many forensic teams from even other precincts are still working to process all the corpses. But before we do, you need to know how I handled and explained the events."  
   
He looked around to make sure that no one was into ear’s shot, which was obviously the case since the place was close to deserted at this early hour.  
   
"I returned on the site of the fire just after you left yesterday to talk to the cops who first arrived. I told them that the fire was already raging and too strong to try and save anyone when we got there during the pursuit of a lead we got for one of our investigation. I pretended that there had been an emergency with Trixie to explain your sudden departure from the crime scene.  I had to say that you were there in case any cameras in the area picked up our images during our little tour of town." Chloe nodded in agreement at his story without interrupting him. "And now, since we were there to investigate Steve Harper’s disappearance, the case lands into our hands."  
   
Chloe sighed heartily. "Sorry I bolted like that and left you deal with all that mess by your own, Dan."  
   
Dan’s features hardened. "Don’t you dare being sorry for that, Chloe. You needed to see him. I understand that. And I figure that you did see him before he went back to Hell to arrest that demon everyone seem so nervous about."  
   
A little smile appeared on Chloe’s lips in spite of everything at the reminder of her night with Lucifer. She nodded slightly, worrying her lips. "Yeah..." she answered softly, "I saw him..."  
   
The dreamy way she said it with eyes sparkling with love was all it took for Dan to figure out what happed last night.  
   
"I’m glad for you Chloe. I really am." The truth of his words even surprised him.  
   
Chloe stared back at him in astonishment at his quick conclusion, ready to deny everything as a reflex, only to discover that she didn’t want to deny anything anymore. In fact, she wanted for everyone to know that she was in love with Lucifer and that they belonged to each other now.  
   
Chloe’s features softened and morphed into a radiant expression. "It was the best night of our lives!"  
   
Their matching smile grew and they both busted into a happy laugher.  
   
"I bet it was for him." Dan finally said when he’d retaken control over his giggling. "The guy has been waiting on you for years now." Just realising the scope of the situation, considering who he was talking about, he added musingly, "actually, Lucifer has probably waited a lot longer than that for you..."  
   
Chloe only nodded softly with still a little smile at the corner of her lips. Even though she was increasingly worried for Lucifer’s wellbeing with each passing minute, the reminder of their short time together was bringing a warm joy inside her heart.  
   
Dan cleared his throat and shook his head a little, which announced a change in topic. He looked around searchingly as he asked, "I thought Amenadiel said one of his siblings would follow us around for the day?"  
   
Chloe leant onto the desk towards him and lowered her voice even if it wasn’t necessary. "Oh she is here! Don’t worry. Only, you won’t be able to see her if she doesn’t want to be seen."  
   
Dan looked at his surrounding suspiciously with round eyes.  
   
"Hello Daniel!" resounded a happy young woman’s voice just a few feet on his right.  
   
He started in near fright. "What the Hell?" he exclaimed.  
   
"Maybe not Hell, but close enough I suppose," answered the angel playfully.  
   
"Dan, say hi to Azrael, The Angel of Death!" Chloe thought that she might be enjoying this situation way too much.  
   
Dan’s face paled enough to become _livid_.  
 

* * *

  
   
The crime scene was still buzzing with activity when they set foot there around 6:30. Grim body bags were aligned on the pavement of the blocked road. A clear statement to the disaster that had taken place in the building. From what Chloe could see, most of the corpses had already been taken out of the rubbles. In spite of the early hour of the day, a horde of onlookers was observing the scene with long faces from down the road behind the yellow tape circling the perimeter. A few reporters were still on site to take images of the gruesome scene.  
   
To Chloe’s surprise, both buildings on each sides of what remained of the Shelter were also burnt almost down to the ground. She should probably have guessed as much, considering the supernatural nature of the fire involved in the incident.  
   
They stopped where the front door once stood and quickly spotted Ella crouched down in the middle of the remnants, surrounded by a few people still searching for dead bodies.  
   
Chloe sighed deeply as she turned to Dan. "We should probably go see what Ella already discovered. Let’s just hope that she hasn’t found anything suspicious..." She sounded less than optimist. At the grimace Dan was doing, she understood that his hopes were not very high either.  
   
As if on cue, Ella saw them and waved her hand happily before standing up and walking precociously through the debris towards them.  
   
From behind her, Chloe heard Azrael sigh too and say under her breath, "Damn! I knew it couldn’t be a good idea to accept."  
   
Chloe narrowed her eyes at the angel’s comment that somehow sounded like something she wasn’t supposed to have heard.  
   
Chloe joined her hands together in front of herself, trying to look her usual detective self while she saw Dan open his note pad at the last second, probably just reminded that he should be looking eager to get some information to better understand what happened here.  
   
"What have you discovered Ella?" Chloe asked without any preamble.  
   
Ella lifted her brows in indignation. "Hello to you too! Someone is grumpy this morning."  
   
Chloe pinched the bridge of her nose and sneered at her own lack of consideration. "Sorry Ella! I haven’t gotten a lot of sleep last night."  
   
"If any..." added Dan with a smirk.  
   
Chloe sent him a killer glare that only succeeded to make him smile even more.  
   
Chloe shook her head to try and dismiss him.  
   
Ella’s eyes bulged in utter disbelief. "Are you two back together?"  
   
Chloe thought she saw some pain in her friend’s surprised gaze.  
   
Both Daniel and Chloe stared back at Ella almost in horror.  
   
"Nooo!" cringed Chloe.  
   
"God no!" blurted out Daniel. "I mean... No! "It’s not what you think."  
   
Daniel was starting to regret his little joke. His relationship with Ella had been less than easy these last few weeks. He knew she resented him for the dickish way he acted with her before Lucifer’s departure, and things had not improved from there after he botched the Mayan case to cover it up. Ella was smart enough to know that he was hiding something, which had only aggravated the situation between them. He hated for her to think that he was a bad detective or worse, a corrupt one. So the last thing he needed now was for her to think that he was back with Chloe or that he was courting her.  
   
Ella only looked at them in turn with a suspicious frown. "Whatever!"  
   
The forensic scientist decided to leave them off the hook to expose her findings that were baffling her. "This case is incredible! It looks like the Mayan case all over again!"  
   
Both Chloe’s and Dan’s faces dropped. There went their frail hopes!  
   
Beside her Dan was starting to fidget into place and she suspected that she wasn’t acting much better. Chloe mentally face palmed. They looked so suspicious!  
   
Chloe cleared her throat nonchalantly. At least she hoped it looked that way. "Why do you think so?" Did her voice sound a bit higher pitch? She thought it might have been.  
   
Fortunately, Ella’s mind seemed to be already too taken by her theories to notice their strange behaviours.  
   
Their friend sounded most excited. "I’ve only had a look at a few carbonized corpses, but they all had marks of stabbing, much like the ones at the Mayan. Furthermore, I think they were already dead before the fire even started." She smiled brightly at them, obviously proud of her findings.  
   
"How can you be sure that they were already dead?" Dan challenged her.  
   
"You’re right buddy! Should have more proofs before making any hasty conclusion. Respect!" Ella hit her torso with her fist to emphasize her word.  
   
She pursued with her explanation. "The laboratory tests should help confirm my theory, but for now, the way the blood seem to have boiled in the corpses tells me that they were not very fresh." Then she scowled in annoyance at something that looked to be bothering her. "What is strange though, is that the firefighters think that the fire could have been started intentionally in many places all around the main room, probably to keep anyone from escaping. Unless we find any corpses that revealed to have been alive before the fire, I think they could be mistaking and that the fire was lit that way to keep anyone from going inside to try and save anyone in case they could discover that those people were already dead."  
   
Chloe arched her brows and nodded in acknowledgement of Ella’s talent even if she hadn’t  —thank God!— unveiled all the truth. Damn! She was good!  
   
After their little chat, Ella got back to looking for clues while Chloe and Dan talked with the firefighter who was responsible of the search in progress. The man confirmed what Ella had already told them and as Chloe had thought, they were on the end of the search. Soon after, trucks arrived to take away the bodies who would be sent to different morgues all over the city to be autopsied as soon as possible. Not long after, the onlookers and reporters also left the scene.  
   
Chloe and Dan lingered there a while more in case Ella would find something she shouldn’t, although pretending only to want to give her a ride back. By the time the forensic scientist was done, there was almost no one around anymore except for two cops left behind to make sure that nobody would enter the crime scene.  
   
Ella watched Chloe head away from earshot, apparently busy talking with Amenadiel on her cell phone. She hoped it could mean good news about Lucifer, but somehow the grim look on Chloe’s face did not point to that. Chloe was very closed-up about the whole Lucifer thing since he left without any notice, and Ella had not pushed her friend into talking either. Chloe was a secretive one and Ella respected that. But damn! She wanted so much to know what was going on with Lucifer. Not knowing and not even being able to call him to make sure her friend was okay was killing her.  
   
She was also very worried about Chloe. She wasn’t herself lately and the way she was acting today was only adding to Ella’s worries. She’d never seen her friends looking so tensed, not even after returning to work a month ago. Chloe had been constantly looking at her phone to check for messages and it was the second time Amenadiel had called her. Something big was going on that had nothing to do with Chloe’s lack of sleep. Or maybe it did. Whatever was happening had probably kept her up all night and it might very well be linked to this new case. If only Chloe would talk to her. Maybe she could help. She would do almost anything for her friends.  
   
She and Dan were not talking that much anymore either and she missed that dearly. They had been present for each other during some of their worst moments and it had felt great to be able to count on his understanding and strength even though he had been pretty much as messed-up as she had been at the time. But he looked better now, and she thought she did too, now that she had reconciled with the Big Guy. Maybe it was time that she made a move to get things right between them before he really got back together with Chloe...  
   
She joined Dan and sat on the piece of wood he was using as a bench in the middle of the crumbled building, seemingly researching something on the net on his phone.  
   
"All done now!" she announced, putting her big forensic bag full of new samplings at her feet.  
   
"Good! Any new interesting conclusions?" he ventured, almost nervously, thought Ella.  
   
She narrowed her eyes at him. "You know you can talk to me, Dan? Right?"  
   
"Hun?" he answered dumbly.  
   
She rolled her eyes at him. "I’m not an idiot, Dan! I know Chloe and you are hiding things from me about this case and the Mayan’s. Chloe even convinced me not long ago to stop looking into the Mayan’s inconsistencies, assuring me that you had good reasons to close it the way you did." She smirked shamefully. "I should have known that you had good reasons to do it. I’m sorry I made you feel like you were a dirty cop."  
   
Dan didn’t know how to answer her. Anything he would say was certainly going to look either like an admission or worse, like a lie. He was screwed both ways.  
   
He sighed in defeat. "Ella... It’s, complicated."  
   
Right at that moment, they heard Chloe call with authority at someone nearby.  
   
"You shouldn’t be here. It’s an active crime scene. Go back behind the yellow tape please."  
   
Ella and Dan interrupted their conversation to look at what was going on. A lone beautiful blond woman strangely clothed in leather was walking decisively towards Chloe who had apparently finished her phone call.  
   
Dan looked in the direction where he’d last seen the officers who were supposed to be guarding the accesses, but couldn’t spot either of them. Strange!  
   
The intriguing woman didn’t answer anything to Chloe’s clear order nor did she slow down her advance either. She was maybe twenty feet away from Chloe when the latter brought out her gun and pointed it at the stranger.  
   
" _Stay right where you are or I’ll shoot!_ " called out Chloe.  
   
"I’d like to see that...," answered the woman as she smiled venomously back at Chloe.  
   
Dan understood right at that moment what Chloe had probably already deduced.  
   
"Oh shit!" he exclaimed, standing up suddenly and getting his weapon out.  
   
Beside him, Ella looked around herself nervously and gripped his left wrist insistently.  
   
"Dan!" she only said in a strangled voice.  
   
He looked down at her and followed the direction she was pointing at with her finger to discover two men coming their way from behind the crumbled building. He aimed at them, ready to fire at any moment. It didn’t seem to impress them in the least as they pursued towards them.  
   
"Dan, what’s going on?" squirmed Ella who was now standing anxiously.  
   
Daniel took another peak at the blond menace who was now only ten feet away from Chloe, when his ex fired three rounds that should have hit target easily from that distance. Yet, the woman barely shuddered under the impacts, proving to Dan that she was of supernatural nature.  
   
At the same moment, behind the blond demon, or whatever she was, appeared a young woman wearing a robe and displaying a set of dark wings. She brandished a long dagger that shined brightly in the morning sun. The blade was about to reach its target when the demon turned around at lightning speed and smashed the dark angel forcefully with one of her own bat-like wing that had just appeared out of nowhere.  
   
A scream of angst coming from Ella took Dan by surprise as the angel went crashing about twenty feet away into some debris and stayed sprawled, unmoving.  
   
" _Noooo! Rae Rae!_ " Ella looked completely out of it, utterly confused at the whole situation.  
   
Dan didn’t have time to focus on his friend’s dismay, deciding instead to turn his gun towards the blond demon, ready to fire, for what good it would do anyway. He looked back for an instant at Chloe, wondering what was keeping her from shooting again.  
   
His blood turned cold at the picture displaying before him.  
   
A man, or more plausibly a demon, was holding a dagger at Chloe’s throat from behind, forcing her to drop her gun.  
   
Afraid to get Chloe killed if he dared to shoot at the blond demon, Dan froze into place, not knowing what to do anymore. The blond winked at him with a frustrating little smile as she resumed her pacing towards Chloe as if nothing special even happened.  
   
The two male demons were now getting dangerously close to Ella and himself, so Dan returned his aim on them, hoping it would give him some time to think of a way to get out of this impossible situation. The new demons fortunately stopped not far from them only to finger long knives resting at their hips, but still waiting for orders.  
   
The female demon stopped a few paces from Chloe to look down on her with almost hypnotizing green eyes. The aura of danger coming off her was unmistakable.  
   
"So," she started joyfully, "I am told that you are the one called Chloe Decker, the human for whom _The Morningstar_ is ready to do _anything_."  
   
Chloe didn’t answer, instead hording her chin high in defiance.  
   
"Do you know who I am, human?" the demon asked hauntingly.  
   
"Yes!" breathed the detective.  
   
Chloe was terrified, yet she drew into the strength that her love for Lucifer was giving her and spoke steadily.  
   
"You are Lilith, first human to have ever been created, Mother of all demons, and you are here for me!  
   
Lilith smiled at her wolfishly. "Now we understand each other!"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now now! I am not done surprising you, I promise. Please let me know of your thoughts on this new chapter, hoping that you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading, and commenting.
> 
>  


	11. A Blood Bath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m finally back from a week-long trip and got back to writing right away to give you this new chapter. Enjoy!

Lilith kept looking at Chloe like a dangerous predator eying its next meal while she gave her orders.  
   
"What are you two waiting for? Finish off the angel before she regains consciousness."  
   
The male demons looked at each other uncertainly, clearly nervous to take such a risk. Yet they drew their knives out, if somewhat reluctantly, ready to obey their leader.  
   
Ella made a move forwards as if wanting to intervene, but Dan held her off by grabbing her arm.  
   
"Ella, stop! You’re going to get us all killed!"  
   
Trying to escape Dan’s hold, the forensic scientist looked clearly distressed and on the verge of a break down. "I need to help her! She’s my friend! She shouldn’t... None of that makes any sense."  
   
The demons had only taken a few paces forward when the apparently unconscious Azrael disappeared all of a sudden.  
   
Chloe heard the demon at her back gasp and felt him release his hold around her. When he hit the ground, she felt new arms encircling her warmly from behind before blackness swallowed her vision. She regained her bearings less than a second later only to realise that she was not standing in front of Lilith anymore, but besides Dan and Ella. Now feeling dizzy from the otherworldly experience, her knees buckled when Azrael released her from her hold. Chloe understood that the way the angel had brought her there might not be meant for humans. Fortunately, Dan was there in an instant to keep her upright as Azrael was placing herself in front of them, wings spread out protectively.  
   
"You should know better than to hurt me or my friends, Lilith," The Angel of Death warned the demon dangerously. "Did you really think you would get away with it without any casualties?"  
   
Still standing in the same spot that she’d been, Lilith considered warily the dead demon in front of her.  
   
Azrael nodded with a big smile, knowing too well where the demon’s train of thought had taken her. "Effectively, he is truly dead, annihilated if you prefer. It might not be The Flaming sword that I’m holding, but Father considered it important that I could defend myself properly when doing trips to Hell. So He gave me another little toy, even if it’s not as pretty as the previous one, I have to admit."  
   
Lilith snarled in frustration at the angel.  
   
Azrael feigned concern. "Don’t tell me you’ll miss him? Squee was of the worst kind, even for a demon." He might have been possessing a new body, but Azrael would have recognized Squee’s demonic aura among thousands.  
   
Lilith didn’t deign answering her and instead barked another order at her remaining demons. "Take her down!"  
   
Azrael only smiled at them in the most threatening way.  
   
Both demons’ eyes bulged in pure panic as they froze on the spot, not knowing what terrified them more between facing The Angel of Death and disobeying Lilith’s order.  
   
The choice was taken out of their hands when Azrael disappeared once more and blinked back into existence right behind the two demons just long enough to bring quick death upon them.  
   
Azrael had mastered the skill of celestial travelling like no other entities ever had. Anyone else would need a few seconds of concentration to achieve what she could do in the blink of an eye, which was making her one of the most dangerous entities existing. And her skills in combat were only matched by a few of her siblings and certainly by even fewer demons. Her deadly reputation was renown and well deserved in Hell where she was respected and feared by all its host.  
   
She reappeared back in front of her friends less than two seconds later, a taunting smile upon her face directed at Lilith.  
   
"I see you’re not trying that little trick with me again," snarls Lilith in defiance and renewed anger at having lost her last demons. "Are you afraid of me, little bird?" She spread her demonic wings menacingly and took a few steps towards the angel.  
   
Azrael took a defensive stance. "You know you don’t scare me, Lilith. But right now my friends’ lives are more important than my desire to kill you."  
   
Lilith stopped her advance about ten feet from them, considering the situation, and smiled with satisfaction. "To say the truth, I didn’t come here to kill anyone, even if I’m always open to it."  
   
"Permit me to doubt your intentions, Lilith. Why else would you be here?" inquired the angel.  
   
Lilith smiled enigmatically and made a show of looking around herself. "I see Lucifer is not back yet. Who knows when or even _if_ he’ll come back?"  
   
"What have you done to him?" blurted out Chloe, unable to contain her fear for Lucifer.  
   
Azrael had to hold her back with one of her wings to keep her from putting herself into harm’s way.  
   
Lilith watched the scene with amusement. "Can’t spoil the surprise by telling you, now can I? All I’ll say is that I am not here to start a war with the Devil, but to make a point. To give you a fair warning if you prefer. There won’t always be someone to protect you, Chloe Decker. If I wish so, one way or another I can get to you, or to any of the people that Lucifer seems to care about."  
   
Chloe gulped at the clear threat.  
   
Then Lilith eyed Chloe’s friends. "I suppose that lovely young woman can only be Ella Lopez, who I am told is quite close to _The Morningstar_ , and that human beside her must be Detective Espinoza, your ex-husband. Even his death should disturb Lucifer, from what I heard of his new attachment to some of you, humans. And that’s without talking about his nephew and that little daughter of yours that the Devil seems so attached to, if Father Kinley is to be believed. And don’t go thinking that I don’t know that Amenadiel is taking them out of town to protect them. Know that there is nowhere they can be safe from me."  
   
Lilith smiled in utter satisfaction at the way the humans’ and angel’s eyes bulged with fear a little bit more with each new threat.  
   
"What do you want?" finally asked Chloe.  
   
Lilith shrugged. "As I said, I’m only here to give you and Lucifer a warning. Stay out of my business here on Earth and you will all stay alive. But try to stop me, and I will kill each and every one of you one by one, and enjoy every second of it. As you now understand, you and your friends will be my insurance for Lucifer’s good behaviour, if he ever finds a way back here that is."  
   
Lilith let the heavy silence last for a moment to make sure that her words had sank in properly before pursuing.  
   
"Now if you’ll excuse me, I have things to do. It was nice meeting you all."  
   
With one last condescending scowl, Lilith took flight and disappeared after only a few beatings of her wings.  
   
It took a while before anyone was able to speak after the demon’s departure, but Ella surprised both humans with her words.  
   
"Rae Rae?!" she said uncertainly.  
   
The Angel of Death turned slowly towards her, still staying quiet.  
   
Ella’s stare hardened when she looked her friend over. Her next words sounded stronger with a clear ring of anger. "How is it that you are corporeal, and that you sprouted wings? WINGS!" she repeated in a near scream.  
   
Not even while facing Lilith and her demons had The Angel of Death looked half as weary as she was right now in front of the little woman’s fury.  
 

* * *

  
 Maze made her way to the throne room stealthily, keeping her features hooded all along with a dark cloak. It was important to keep her identity hidden for as long as possible to make sure not to lose the upper hand.  
   
She expected to find Hell in turmoil, with a possible war for power going on, but found it instead eerily quiet. Demons were going on as normally with their tasks and souls were still locked up in their cells, suffering as they should. Everything seemed as normal as it should be and yet, something was missing... The Lord of Hell was not on his throne nor anywhere in Hell, that she could tell, and his absence was leaving behind a sense of emptiness that everybody should be feeling.  
   
A sense of dread coursed through Maze. What did it mean if she couldn’t even feel his presence here when she knew he wasn’t on Earth either? She was terrified to find out the answer...  
   
A guard blocked her path with his halberd as she was about to enter the great hall. Mazikeen took off her hood and revealed her identity with a dangerous snarl, making it clear that she didn’t have time for that shit. The guard recognized her instantly and a look of relief washed over his demonic face.  
   
"Does it mean that the King is back?" he inquired with clear hope.  
   
Maze returned the question to him. "I don’t know, you tell me!"  
   
The guard looked confused for a moment, not sure what to answer. "Well... He did come back a couple days ago, but then he vanished once more."  
   
Another guard that Maze vaguely remembered as Petris, and who had been listening to their conversation, joined them to clarify the situation.  
   
"The king indeed left again to return to Earth. You won’t find him here." He said sternly.  
   
His insolent tone was already getting on Maze’s nerves. "And how do you know that for sure?"  
   
The demon stared at Maze with animosity. "Because I saw him leave, is why!"  
   
By then, the four other guards at the entry were listening closely, already gripping their weapons tightly as if expecting trouble from her. They were not so wrong about that...  
   
"You are _lying_!" hissed Maze.  
   
Petris looked affronted and ready to burst out. She expected the other guards to back him up, but to her surprise three out of four instead turned questioning looks towards the possibly lying demon. Only the fourth one narrowed his eyes at her as if ready to support his fellow demon.  
   
Without hesitation, Maze hit the liar square in his already ravaged nose and knocked him out instantly. Almost in the same motion, she rounded on the second one who seemed to pose the greatest threat to her and swept him off his feet with one of her leg. He landed right on his back and hit his head on the stone floor, properly stunned. The rest of the guards gaped at her in utter disbelief and confusion.  
   
Maze didn’t let them the time to decide of a course of action. "What are you waiting for?" she barked at them with authority, "tie their hands and legs and bring them in the throne room for questioning. Your King needs your help! Now move!"  
   
More used to obey orders than to think for themselves, the demons did as they were told and secured the two culprits as well as all accesses to the throne room to keep the interrogation secret.  
   
It took Maze frustratingly longer than she’d thought it would to make the suspicious demons talk, even by deploying her full talents in torturing. They only started to talk once she made it clear that she already knew they were working for Lilith and that once the Devil was back, because there was no other possible outcome really, then he would learn of their involvement and his wrath would be without precedent.  
   
The fact that her gamble worked out was a good indication that Lucifer had to still be alive. It lifted her hopes up to be able to find him before it was too late.  
   
What she learned was more than disturbing. Lucifer had been locked up in Lilith’s quarters, somehow, and was guarded by a great number of demons loyal to Lilith who were positionned all along de tunnels leading down there. Even more alarming was the news that Lilith had not been seen since the events.  
   
Maze cursed when realizing that Lilith could very well be on Earth right now, ready to kill Chloe and her friends. She had to find Lucifer quickly so they could get back there as soon as possible.  
   
Of what she remembered of Lilith’s den with its one and only narrow path leading there, it was promising to be a real blood bath to get to the Devil. She would almost need an army to get through. Then an army she would find...  
   
Maze would never have thought it possible, but finding an army that was a hundred percent loyal to Lucifer among the demonic host was not an easy task these days with Lilith’s strange hold upon many of them. Paimon had been her best possible choice. He wasn’t the greatest follower of Lucifer, but there was little chances that Lilith would recruit among that General’s army since he allegedly hated their mother with passion. Learning that Lilith had pulled a coup against Lucifer had indeed been enough to convince Paimon to go against her and her people.  
   
It took a few painstakingly long days to secretly get to Paimon and have the rescue party ready to attack. But at last, Maze had her army and she would bring hell to Lilith’s followers.  
   
Petris had not lied when saying that there were many demons guarding the tunnels, and it turned out to be as much of a carnage as Maze had predicted, for both parties.  
   
Not only was their advance difficult through the narrow tunnels that were easier to defend than to take, but they soon found themselves attacked from behind by a horde of Lilith’s followers lying in wait for such an incursion.  
   
It took them close to two days of fierce combats to reach Lilith’s den. Maze was the first to set foot inside the dark cave where she killed the last renegade demons, helped by a few of Paimon’s men. After that much fighting, Mazikeen felt drained, at the end of her energy like rarely before in her existence, but it didn’t seem as bad as the way Lucifer looked...  
   
He was leaning with great difficulty against the invisible barrier keeping him prisoner. Bare-chested with only his pants on and his shoes, he had dark circles around the eyes witnessing of his lack of sleep. Maze thought he may have lost a little weight over the last six days of his imprisonment. Doubtless that they had kept him starving in there, without food or water.  
   
"What are you doing here?" He growled in anger, his voice hoarse with misuse and dryness.  
   
"Saving your sorry ass! What’s the matter with you?" She was too tired to try to understand his surprising reaction to her rescuing him.  
   
"You were supposed to protect Chloe! She is in danger! Lilith is after her." He was shaking with anger and probably with fear for the woman he loved.  
   
Maze quickly reassured him while she tested the magical barrier around him. "I gathered that much, but don’t worry, Chloe is safe with Azrael, and Amenadiel is protecting the kids."  
   
"Azrael...? She accepted to protect her, a human?" He seemed perplex and the heat left him considerably.  
   
"Of course she did. She knows what Chloe means to you. And she better do a good job of it otherwise I will hunt her down," she promised darkly.  
   
Around them, more demons were filling up the room, among them a bloodied Paimon who came to bow before his King.  
   
"My Lord! I am relieved to find you alive."  
   
Lucifer straightened up as much as he could muster in front of his subject. "I am in your debt, Paimon."  
   
The demon smiled maliciously. "My payment was the chance to piss off Lilith. I’m just looking forward to get my hands on her."  
   
Lucifer forced a smile on his lips that didn’t reach his tired eyes.  
   
Maze was still trying to find a way through the barrier and was getting more and more agitated at her failure. She’d hoped that erasing the magical symbols on the floor would do it, but it had no effect whatsoever.  
   
She hissed in frustration at the two men talking casually beside her. "Will you please keep the congratulations and small talk for after we find a way to bring that damn prison down?"  
   
Lucifer pinched the bridge of his nose tiredly. "Don’t bother trying to erase those symbols, Maze. I think they were just there to focus the magic around me when the spell was cast out. However, they look to have been painted with blood. I believe that the source of the power at play here must come from that blood and that there should be a lot more than that somewhere close by along with other ingredients that are essential for that kind of spell. Find the source and you should be able to nullify the spell.  
   
Maze looked around her and didn’t see anything unusual at first glance. Lucifer had been here for days and had not spotted it, so she figured that it had to be out of sight. Then she noticed a darker section at the far end of the cave and walked straight there. Dissimulated beyond the shadows, was a door leading to another room. The smell of decay that assailed her when she opened the door made her choke for a moment.  
   
There in the middle of the small room was suspended upside down a dead demon with its head cut off. It had been drained out of all its blood which had pooled down into a big bowl resting under the corpse. The demon’s head was floating in the pool of blood among some herbs and other ingredients that Maze could not identify.  
   
Well, looked like her search had been fruitful!  
   
Maze considered for a moment what would be the best way to stop the effect of the spell. Too exhausted to think properly, she chose to do the first thing that came to mind.  
   
With a kick, she sent the bowl flying through the air and smashing against the wall. The blood splattered everywhere and the head rolled away. Mazikeen walked to the demonic head and bashed it in a few times with her foot until it was in pieces and unrecognisable.  
   
She looked around at her work and nodded, satisfied.  
   
In the other room, she heard exclamations confirming that her scientific technique had been effective, if somewhat messy.  
   
The Devil was now free, and there was no doubt that he would be looking for revenge...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is almost finished, only a couple chapters left until the end. I hope you still like it. Comments are always very much appreciated and truthfully, needed. Thanks for reading!


	12. Together Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here I am, at long last. I got caught up in my other story, Back from the Shadows, for a couple chapters before I came back to this one. You’ll see that this chapter is a bit longer than the others, which will hopefully compensate for the long wait. Thanks to all the people who reviewed or commented the previous chapters or sent kudos and such. You have no idea how good it feels to receive them :))) And now, place to the story!

Ella and Azrael stared at each other, the first in barely controlled anger and the other in near fright. The world itself seemed to be holding its breath around them.  
   
"Ella..., I..." But the angel couldn’t find the words to justify the extent of her lies.  
   
Ella looked at her lifelong friend’s wings. "You’re not a ghost..." More a statement than a question.  
   
"You’re Ella’s ghost?" Chloe blurted out in utter astonishment.  
   
"I definitely didn’t see that one coming," commented Dan faintly, completely ignored by the three women around him.  
   
Azrael looked even more sheepish than she already was.  
   
As understanding settled in, Chloe couldn’t stop herself from voicing her disbeliefs. "I can’t believe you’ve let Ella think that she was crazy all that time without ever admitting the truth."  
   
As if spurred by Chloe’s support, Ella spilled her heart out. "You lied to me all along!" She looked like she was physically hurting from the betrayal. "Was anything you ever told me even real?" she added faintly, sounding more like a vulnerable child than a grown woman.  
   
Azrael’s face fell even more. "Ella... I’m-I’m sorry... I should have told you years ago, but I was afraid of your reaction. At first you were too young for me to dare tell you the truth. The ghost story seemed to be the best option. And to say the truth, I never thought that our friendship would develop so much and that I would someday come to regret that lie. And then later, your faith in Father became such a central factor in your life, something that even help define yourself. Knowing and believing are complete different things, Ella, and I was afraid that transforming that belief into a certainty would change too much the wonderful being that you had become. I didn’t feel like I had the right to take that away from you."  
   
Ella digested that for a moment. It was hard to accept, yet she could discern the ring of truth in her friend’s words. And she indeed had been very young when they met...  
   
Realisation dawn on her all of a sudden. "Wait! You first appeared to me after the car crash..., and you’re an angel, obviously. Does it mean that...? Did I die that day?"  
   
Rae looked reluctant to admit it. "Well, just for a minute really. It was not a big deal."  
   
"Not a big deal? _Not a big deal_?" Ella was almost shaking at the knowledge that her life could have ended at such a young age.  
   
 _How was she even still alive?_  
   
Mind going wild, the words stumbled out of her mouth. "Did you resuscitate me?"  
   
"Nooo! Of course not! I’m not allowed to do something like that. I really thought that you were dead for good and I was about to bring you up to Heaven when you came back to life on your own. It turned out to be just a false alarm. I have to admit that something like that doesn’t happen very often, though I can remember a few other cases through the ages. Come to think of it, they always were exceptional beings. Maybe Dad had something to do with it..." she mused softly, entertaining the idea for the first time.  
   
"What?" Ella’s voice came out high pitched in disbelief.  
   
The angel lifted her hands as if to stop her friend’s train of thoughts. "Sorry! I shouldn’t have said that. It’s probably just a crazy idea anyway. Dad usually doesn’t meddle into humans’ lives or deaths."  
   
 _Oh damn!_ Could God have really brought her back to life? The possibility was simply head spinning. Her reality was revealing to be completely different than what she’d thought it to be; God himself might have wanted to keep her on Earth, for unknown reasons, and she was friends with an angel...  
   
Ella’s eyes grew wide as the pieces of the puzzle slowly came together. "Wait! Rae Rae..." she tested the name as if saying it for the first time. "You’re... Azrael? The Angel of Death?" she finished in a whisper of awe.  
   
"Yeaaaah? Azrael grimaced, most anxious of Ella’s reaction.  
   
"Damn! I’m friends with The Angel of Death!" The little scientist looked as if in complete shock, her mouth hanging slack.  
   
Azrael fidgeted into place, unsure if she’d broken her for good or what. Yet the words Ella used left her with one last hope that everything was not over yet for their friendship.  
   
"Does it mean we’re still friends then?" Azrael realised that she sounds like a desperate little girl, but at that point, let her be damned if she cared.  
   
Ella’s awe and shock dissolved before the girl’s obvious vulnerability. Whatever Azrael might be, she was first and foremost her best friend. "Of course, you dummy! Doesn’t mean I’m not pissed at you though." She tried to bring up an angry stare, but failed miserably. She just wasn’t good at staying angry at anyone for any amount of time.  
   
Unexpectedly, the angel fell into her arms in a crushing hug. The feel of Rae Rae’s solid body against her made Ella almost question her sanity. The friend she’d never been able to touch, that she’d always doubted was even real, was now in her arms, alive, and r _eal_. It took her a moment to return the hug, but when she did, she just couldn’t let go.  
   
"So, that’s how the famous Ella Lopez’s hug feels like? Awesome!" exclaimed the angel happily.  
   
They both chuckled with happiness before they started weeping softly against each other’s neck, shaken by the overwhelming emotions they were experiencing. Eventually, the comfort they brought to each other helped them regain their countenance enough to part.  
   
Now more in control of herself, Ella really looked at her angelic friend for the first time, taking in her magnificent gray wings, her strange clothes, and the blood on her torso...  
   
"Damn it, you’re hurt!" Only now was she remembering how Lilith had struck the angel with her demonic wing.  
   
Azrael quickly tried to reassure her friend.  "I’m good, don’t worry. It’s just a scratch, not even bleeding anymore. I’ve had worse, believe me."  
   
Ella didn’t feel so sure. The large gash looked disturbingly deep even though the blood indeed had stopped pouring out. Still, there was a lot of blood over the angel’s clothes.  
   
Dan’s words kept Ella from pursuing her line of thoughts. "Shouldn’t we get the hell away from here instead of chatting like that in the open? I don’t know about you, but I would feel a lot safer at the precinct at the moment."  
   
That’s when Ella realized that Dan didn’t even look surprised or much intimidated to be standing in front of The Angel of Death, nor did Chloe now that she thought about it.  
   
"How is it that both of you know Rae Rae? Azrael I mean."  
   
Chloe bit her lower lip while choosing her words very carefully to try and ease the effect of the huge bomb she was about to drop on the scientist.  
   
"Humm... Azrael was here to protect us while Lucifer, her _brother_ , was away..."  
   
Ella’s jaw dropped in a ridiculous fashion as the implications of Chloe’s words sank in. With everything that occurred in the last few minutes and all the, apparently, nonsense talk she heard between Lilith and the detective, Ella had managed to miss the elephant in the room, so to speak.  
   
" _Lucifer_...," she whispered, realization hitting her. "Holly shit! He’s not a method actor is he?"  
   
Both Dan and Chloe shook their heads in sympathy.  
   
"Holly shit!" she repeated before slapping her hands over her mouth and looking up at the sky apologically. "Sorry!"  
   
"Don’t worry," Azrael reassured her, "Dad doesn’t give a shit about what you say."  
   
After that, Ella stayed uncharacteristically quiet, her silence lasting the whole ride back to the precinct. Her mind felt like it was in overdrive just doing its best to make sense of all the life altering revelations that fell upon her; God was _real_ , and not only was she friends with The Angel of Death, but also with the Devil himself...  
   
The first thing Chloe did while Dan drove them back to the precinct was to call Amenadiel and make sure that they were all still safe and sound. Which they were, to her greatest relief. It might not stay that way for long though. Lilith had made it clear that she knew about Amenadiel’s whereabouts, and her daughter’s... Upon learning that he might be followed, the angel assured her that he would move into another hiding place as soon as possible after getting rid of the threat.  
   
Sitted beside Ella on the back seat, Azrael seemed sceptical after hearing Chloe telling them of Amenadiel’s confidence in being able to keep his family and Trixie safe.  
   
"And how does my brother think he’s going to take on an unknown number of demons all by himself while protecting the humans?"  
   
Chloe turned around to look at the angel and gage her reaction. "He mentioned one of your sisters, Ramiel, who he thinks should accept to help protect his family."  
   
Azrael clearly looked surprised by the news. "Ramiel is not the first choice I would have picked to protect humans, but as warriors go, she’s among the bests, and she does be a blind follower of our big brother after all. So I guess Amenadiel’s idea makes sense."  
   
Chloe nodded silently, Azrael’s reassurance making her feel a little less anxious about Trixie’s safety. Surely having two angels to protect her daughter should be enough? But Lilith was right, they wouldn’t be able to stay out of her reach eternally.  
   
Lilith also said that Lucifer might never find his way back to Earth...  
   
Chloe was afraid to think of what it could mean, preferring to focus on the one good news implied in the threat; _Lucifer was still alive!_ And if he was alive, then there was still hope for him, for them.    
   
She could only pray that Maze would find him soon and bring him home, safe. From what she knew of the time difference between Hell and Earth, Chloe estimated to four days the time Maze had already spent down there, and to more than five since Lucifer had left. _Five days_. So much could have happened to him during that time...  
   
As if hearing of Ramiel had reminded Azrael that she had siblings who could give a hand, she announced suddenly that she was going to Heaven just for a moment to have her injury healed and to change her clothing. She promised to be back before they would arrive at the precinct.  
   
Gazing at Ella who was still silent and looking small in the back of the car, Chloe decided to let her a bit more time to process what she just learned before explaining the rest of the crazy situation they were in. Dan was also clearly worried for their friend’s mental state, sending Chloe nervous glances now and then. She did her best to smile back at him with confidence, not that it seemed to be doing any good.  
   
Azrael reappeared in the back seat just as they were entering the precinct’s parking lot.  
   
She looked all ruffled and frustrated. "Those bloody mindless sheep!"  
   
"What happened?" inquired Chloe on full alert mode.  
   
"My brothers! Well, I actually only spoke to Raphael, but they’re all the same, unable to think for themselves. While Raphael was healing me, I told him what’s happening down here with Lilith and her Demons, and that Lucifer was missing. He had the decency to look concerned and even promised that he would talk with our siblings about it, but I would bet my shirt that they won’t lift a single finger to help us, not without a direct order from Father. And everyone knows perfectly well that Father will never be that straightforward."  
   
Chloe wondered what kind of God would let humanity at the mercy of demons like that, and what kind of father would knowingly let his son suffer...  
   
"At least you tried, Azrael," Chloe said soothingly. "Don’t bear on your shoulders the inactions of your family. It won’t do you any good. Maze will bring Lucifer back and we will deal with Lilith ourselves." The confidence with which she said it even surprised her. She didn’t know yet how they would manage that, but she felt that once Lucifer was back by her side, nothing could stand in their way. And if someone could bring back Lucifer, it was certainly Maze.  
   
Once at the precinct, they all gathered inside Ella’s lab to discuss the situation as well as their next move.  
   
Chloe finally brought Ella up to date while filling up the gaps in Azrael’s knowledge of the events having taken place over the last few months. She covered Eve’s and Father Kinley’s involvement in bringing the demons up on Earth, the real explanations of The Mayan Case, Lucifer’s sacrifice in returning to Hell, and the last few events leading up to this day’s encounter with Lilith.  
   
In spite of her recent shock, Ella seemed to be taking in her explanations just fine, even asking questions here and there. To be using her analytical abilities seemed to help her regain her footing. Strangely, what seemed to be getting the strongest reaction out of the scientist was learning that she’d kissed the first woman of humanity. Well, technically, Eve was the second after Lilith, but it was close enough.  
   
While Chloe resumed the events, a fact stood out to her as being quite strange. Confused, she voiced her interrogation to Azrael. "How was it that Lilith had demon wings while she was possessing a human body? None of the other demons I encountered had any. And how was she able to disappear like that anyway?"  
   
"Because it wasn’t a possession," stated the angel darkly. "What you saw was the real Lilith. What I understand, is that she has the power to travel between planes, but I have absolutely no idea how that can even be possible. No demon should be able to manage that. This is simply unheard of. I’m pretty sure Lucifer had no idea she could do it, or maybe it’s a new power of hers, something she acquired recently? Yet it should be impossible. I have no real explanation whatsoever."  
   
After a long moment of silence, Ella made her first real comment about the otherworldly situation. "I guess the fact that Lucifer sacrificed his freedom to protect us must mean that he is a good guy? Right?" she ventured.  
   
Chloe’s eyes bulged in affront. "Of course he is a good person. It’s Lucifer! You know him better than most. Don’t let yourself be confused by everything the church taught you. Believe me, I’ve been there and it’s all crap!"  She was appalled at hearing her friend’s doubt, but how could she resent her after the way she herself reacted when she discovered Lucifer’s real identity?  
   
Even Azrael came to Lucifer’s defense. "My brother made many mistakes during his long existence, but he is not evil. I can assure you Ella. And he’s changed so much over the last few years. You all took a part in that change."  
   
Ella smiled sheepishly, still looking unsure, but nodding all the same. "Deep down, I always knew that Lucifer was an amazing person. A good person. I know I shouldn’t start doubting him now..."  
   
Chloe laid a hand on her friend’s shoulder in support. If anyone knew how difficult it was to accept that truth, it was her.  
   
Dan thought it was as good a time as any to tell them of his findings about Father McMahon and of his working theory. Before being possessed by Father Kinley, the priest was supervising a few shelters in some of the worst parts of LA, and his church was one of the biggest in town. Dan’s belief was that Father Kinley had to know that and chances were that he choose that priest on purpose as his vessel, probably to have access to a great number of humans to possess.  
   
Dan was very enthusiastic. "So I say we go to those shelters and to that church and hit them. I’m fairly certain that we’ll find a lot more demons there and possibly Lilith too. But we have to act fast before they move to hide somewhere else."  
   
Chloe lifted her arms in utter discouragement. "And what do you expect us to accomplish by going there, Dan? Look at us, we’re only the four of us. We can’t take on Lilith and her demons all by our own. There could be tens of them, maybe even more. And we can certainly not bring a SWAT team to fight a priest and his followers without the slightest proof that they’re dangerous."  
   
Dan’s enthusiasm deflated visibly.  
   
Chloe sat back against her chair and pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling suddenly very tired. "Look, I think we have some time before us and shouldn’t rush into it. After having given us her more than clear warning, I don’t see why Lilith would be in a rush to hide. She’s clearly very confident that we will take her seriously and keep our distances, and she can’t know that we’re already on her trail."  
   
Everyone understood the implied statement that Chloe wanted to wait for Lucifer’s return before taking on Lilith and her demons, and no one was ready to tell her that it might never happen. The silence that followed her words became almost awkward.  
   
Without any warning, the door suddenly burst open, making Chloe’s heart jump in her chests. In a second, she was up and ready to defend herself against the new threat, as were her friends.  
   
Chloe’s jaw dropped at the sight displaying before her as her hand froze over her gun at her hip.  
   
Her brain just couldn’t acknowledge was she was seeing, what she’d been so desperately praying for.   
   
The pure angst and desperation visible in Lucifer’s gaze when he finally locked eyes with her was all it took for Chloe to regain her wit and fall into his arms.  
   
" _Lucifer...,_ " was the only thing that came out of her tight throat.  
   
Lucifer tried and failed to speak, succeeding only to emit a half-moan of relief.  
   
They clang to each other as if on lifelines, burying their heads against the other’s neck, inhaling the scent of their love, and basking in the feel of them. Neither could believe that they were finally together again.  
   
Chloe started sobbing uncontrollably as the unbearable tension she’d been enduring during the last few hours slowly drained out of her. She could also feel Lucifer slightly shaking in her arms as he held her protectively. No words were spoken as they stood there, comforting each other and reassuring themselves that this was real.  
   
Once most of the tension had dissolved, Chloe started kissing his neck with feather-light kisses in an impulse to reassure him and herself that everything was and would be okay. She entangled her fingers through his hair and brought his face closer to hers as she traced her lips up to the base of his ear then across his cheek. She could hear Lucifer’s uneven breathing quicken, as was hers. At last their lips were drawn to each other like magnets and what started as a comforting gesture ended in an all-consuming kiss.  
   
For a moment, the only thing existing was them and the feel of their incredible bound. Nothing in the world was as strong and as wonderful as that. Hands stroking the other’s face and hair tenderly, they continues kissing, lost in each other.  
   
Until someone racked his throat and brought them back to Earth. "Hummm.... Hello to you too Lucifer," cut in a very uneasy Daniel.  
   
The two love birds slowly came down from their high and at last parted their lips which stretched into huge smiles of relief and love. Still unable to part completely, they rested their heads together to keep as close as possible while their arms circled back around each other into a tight embrace.  
   
Lucifer spared an angry glance towards the source of interruption of one of the most wonderful moments of his existence. The only thing that kept him from lighting up his Devil eyes at the Douche was the presence of Ella who was looking at Chloe and him with glee in her eyes, probably elated at seeing them being so intimate at long last. But then the little scientist’s glee dissolved all of a sudden when he laid eyes on her. Didn’t he know better, he would almost think her to be afraid, of him?  
   
"What’s wrong with her?" he asked to no one in particular with growing concern.  
   
Her head now resting on Lucifer’s chest, Chloe followed his gaze to Ella’s. She couldn’t repress a grimace when she saw her friend’s reaction to the Devil’s presence. "Humm... actually, Ella just learned about you and well, _everything_ , while Dan has known who you are since you left. You might want to go easy on her."  
   
 _Oh!_ He suddenly felt very self-conscious in a very bad sort of way. Ella was still looking at him with an out of focus gaze. He swallowed hard a couple of times before starting to speak.  
   
"Miss Lopez... I... I know it must be quite confusing, and even scary for you right now, but I promise I would never, ever, hurt you. Which I can’t truthfully promise about the Douche though," he added somberly with a dark stare directed at the said Douche.  
   
Dan visibly squirmed under his devilish gaze.  
   
"I know that! I’m sorry!" blurted out Ella sheepishly. "But you know, it’s not every day I meet the Devil himself."  
   
"Actually, it is!" he dead-panned.  
   
"Riiiight...," she dragged on, shaking herself, "you know what I mean. But who am I to second guess Chloe’s judgement that everything is as it always was? Obviously, she really means it. I mean, if she is kissing you..." She wriggled her eyebrows suggestively.  
   
Lucifer felt a weight lift off his shoulders at Ella’s apparent change of heart towards him. "I would offer to kiss you too, Miss Lopez, but I’m rather exclusive as of late, as you can see."  
   
Ella’s eyes bulged at the offer. "Noooo! It’s okay! Really, I’m good."  
   
Chloe started chuckling, when Lucifer and she were roughly pushed out of the way by an all messed-up looking Maze who was dragging her feet in apparent exhaustion.  
   
The demon rolled her eyes at the still entangled lovers as she passed them. "Oh please! Spare us the disgusting fluff! Have I not suffered enough as it is?"  
   
Chloe had only to get a glance at her friend to understand that the demon literally went through Hell. "Maze! What happened to you?"  
   
The demon’s dark clothes were torn and sliced through in numerous places with darker spots suggesting that she’d been bleeding, and not just a little. There was also traces of blood over the side of her face even if she’d obviously tried to clean up herself a bit before coming back.  
   
Maze flopped down onto a chair, intending to never move again. "It’s a long story, Decker, but don’t fret. In spite of how it may look like, I can say with confidence that I haven’t had that much fun in ages." Her face split into a huge tired smile. "So much blood and gore in that little amount of time... it will be something to remember," she mused dreamily.  
   
Chloe gazed back at her lover, suddenly reminded that his being alive didn’t mean that he wasn’t injured.  
   
As if understanding her concern, Lucifer cupped her cheek and quickly reassured her. "I’m fine, Love," he said softly.  
   
Chloe checked him over to assess if what he was saying was true. Now that she was really looking at him, she thought he looked everything but fine. His eyes were injected with blood and had dark rings underneath them, he was all dishevelled and not just from her wandering hands, and he was wearing strange leather clothing which suggested that his own clothes had probably been too much damaged during his stay in Hell. And on top of that, he was leaning against her a tad too much for it just to be for comfort.  
   
"You look terrible!" she declared in horror.  
   
With a surge of concern for his wellbeing, she deftly patted him over to search for any injuries he could be trying to hide from her.  
   
"Shouldn’t you reserve that for the bedroom, Love?" he said playfully to divert her concern. Seeing that his little joke had fallen on deaf ears, Lucifer stilled her hands and lifted her chin with his fingers. "Look at me, Love!"  
   
Chloe had a hard time lifting her gaze from his possibly injured body, but at last complied under his calm and comforting voice.  
   
Lucifer dried her remaining tears with his thumb. "I’m totally unarmed. Not even a scratch. I promise you."  
   
Before Chloe could wonder if there could be a loop hole in what he just said, Maze cut in.  
   
"It’s true! Mister didn’t even lift a hand, staying aside the whole time I fought to save his feathered ass. And for what? I didn’t even received a thank you for rescuing him, only reproaches for leaving my post from his precious human’s side." If stares could kill, Maze’s certainly would.  
   
Lucifer rolled his eyes in annoyance and admitted with clear difficulty his appreciation to his demon. "Yes Maze, I am most thankful for your help."  
   
"Yes! Thank you so much for bringing him back to me, Maze" added Chloe warmly.  
   
"But just for the record," Lucifer was far from done, "I didn’t just sit idly voluntarily. I was well and truly trapped, barely able to stretch my legs for days. And your actions could have had dire consequences if Lilith had acted and struck at the detective as she’d implied."  
   
Saying that brought back all the angst and terror he’d felt during the last days, thinking that he could have lost Chloe. He gazed down into her beautiful blue eyes once more, caressing the soft skin of her cheek with his fingertips, his own eyes burning with tears that threatened to form.  
   
Chloe winked sheepishly at him while she placed a comforting hand over his. "Not that Lilith didn’t try," she announced calmly.    
   
Lucifer’s face dissolved in horror at the possible implications and looked at her from head to toes in panic.  
   
Chloe squeezed his hand reassuringly. "Heyyy! I’m ok! Thanks to Azrael. She was amazing, fighting those demons and standing up to Lilith."  
   
Lucifer took a shivering breath and sent a thankful tight smile to his sister who had been quietly sitting at the table the whole time. "Thanks Rae, I owe you one."  
   
"Don’t mention it, Bro," piped in Azrael.  
   
Chloe continued her explanations. "Truth be told, I don’t think Lilith came to harm me, but to make a show of strength. She assured that she wasn’t there to start a war with you, but to give you a warning. She wanted you to know that she could get to me or to the people you care about anytime she wanted. She promised to kill every one of us if you interfered with her business here on Earth. She truly seemed to think that you would let her be after what she did." Chloe snorted at the preposterous idea.  
   
Lucifer narrowed his eyes in thought, his features changing slowly from pure anger to uncertainty as she finished her telling.  
   
"Lucifer...," Chloe warned him lowly, "you’re not seriously thinking of leaving her do as she wishes only to keep me safe, are you?"  
   
"But Chloe..." He looked torn apart.  
   
Lucifer’s blood was boiling with the need to take his revenge against Lilith for what she had done to him and for threatening Chloe’s life. He was also thinking of his duty to protect the human beings who would undoubtedly suffer at Lilith’s hand if she were free to walk the Earth. But on the other hand, he was still terrified for Chloe’s life. How could he put her into more danger? He would die if he lost her because of his actions. He looked at all his friends and his doubts grew even more. Their safety would all be at risk if he made the wrong decision.  
   
"Maybe it would be wiser to let Lilith be," he mused, not realising that he’d spoken loud enough to be heard.  
   
"No! Lucifer, you can’t be serious?" Chloe forced his gaze to meet hers by framing his face with her hands. "I’m sure we can protect ourselves until we’ve dealt with her. It would be selfish to ask you to stand down only to protect us. A lot of people could die if we do nothing."  
   
He was so proud of her, of her selflessness, and strangely, he thought that he could probably not live with himself knowing that his selfishness had cost human lives at the hands of Lilith and her demons.  
   
He smiled adoringly at her, his eyes brimming with tears. "That’s one of the reasons why I love you so damn much; selfless to a nauseating degree..."  
   
She brought his head down to her and kissed him tenderly before resting her head once more against his. "We’ll get through this, Babe. You’ll see."  
   
Lucifer’s heart filled up with warmth and love at hearing the sweet word of endearment.  
   
He nodded with stars in his eyes. "Of course we will, Love."  
   
Before they got caught up into each other’s loving gazes, Chloe mentally shook herself.  
   
"You look on the verge of falling off. Come and sit down." She dragged him to a chair, his lack of argument telling her how right she had to be.  
   
Chloe sat as close to Lucifer as possible, their bodies touching and their fingers entwined under the table.  
   
Once they were all sitting down, Dan stammered a bit as he tried to say something.  
   
"I-I’m sorry man, for-for the way I threated you. I..." He looked very uneasy, right on the verge of scared.  
   
Lucifer rolled his eyes. "Please don’t, Daniel. You’ve always been a Douche in my ass who stood up to me. Don’t chicken out now, only because you know who I am and that I will probably torture you myself for eternity for all the bad things that you did during your life," he said nonchalantly. "Just kidding!" he finished with a big grin.  
   
Dan’s mood quickly turned to anger. "You know what? I’m not sorry at all. You are and will always be the biggest prick there is. Devil or not."  
   
"Now I recognise you. That’s the Dan I like!" Lucifer encouraged him happily.  
   
Still looking very proud of his jest, Lucifer turned to look at all of them. "Now, would someone please explain to me what the hell happened with Lilith?"  
   
"Only if you tell us afterward what happened to you in Hell." Chloe wasn’t about to let him hide anything from her, even if she had to push him to get the information.  
   
Lucifer reluctantly agreed. So Chloe first told of the events of the day with Lilith and of the next moves they thought they should do against her in the light of Dan’s information about the priest that Kinley had possessed before being killed again.  
   
Then Lucifer explained his encounter with Lilith down in Hell and of the trap he stupidly walked into. Maze finally gave vivid details, sometimes too much so, of her long fighting to rescue the Devil. She ended her story with a roll of her eyes at Lucifer’s eagerness to come back on Earth.  
   
"I mean, he was so much in a hurry that it took everything for him to accept to put some clothes on before coming back. And he was so weak I thought he would drop me in between planes on the way back. You should probably feed him and inject him with some liquids before he collapses, Decker. I doubt he got any over the last six days."  
   
Lucifer didn’t seem very happy with Maze’s indiscretion about his detention’s conditions.  
"Thank you very much Maze for those wonderful details."  
   
Chloe’s heart clenched at imagining what he had to endure in that magical cage for so long.  She stroke his hand and forced a smile at him in support. Aside from food and water, from the way he looked, she gathered that he certainly didn’t get much sleep either, if any.  
   
Lucifer abruptly stood up, surprising everyone. "So let’s go! Chop, chop! We got demons to catch."  
   
Chloe jumped up too, but for an entirely different reason. "Absolutely not! You’re in no condition to fight anyone at the moment, and neither is Maze apparently. You both need rest, and so do I to say the truth." She was starting to feel completely drained by her lack of sleep and the events of the morning. "I’m bringing you to the penthouse right now and I won’t let you get out of there until I’m convinced that you got your strength back."  
   
Lucifer lifted an eyebrow at her. "Got any test in mind to make sure of that?" he inquired with a sex-dripping voice.  
   
Chloe lowered her voice enticingly and spoke close to his ear, "you’ll never know if you don’t come."  
   
Lucifer’s eyes bulged in surprise and pure excitement. "Oh my! Who are you and what have you done with my detective?"  
   
Chloe giggled at his reaction and added some more oil on the embers. "Come on, let’s get you to bed."  
   
Lucifer made a choking sound and gripped his heart in faked shock. "I might not make it alive!" he added playfully.  
   
But to Chloe’s amazement, he followed her out of the room docilely without arguing a single time, leaving behind their friends who still had a hard time processing how Chloe’s and Lucifer’s relationship could have evolved so much in so short a time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go! Hoping that you enjoyed that long chapter and all that fluff. Sorry about that, I guess I just needed it ;) Please let me know of your thoughts in a review/comment. There’s only about two chapters left, three at most. Big surprises await you. Thanks for reading, and commenting.


	13. A Leap of Faith

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was not my intention, but aside from an important discussion taking place, this chapter turns out to be mostly fluff and smut, with lots of feelings of course, as always ;) I don’t think it warrants a Mature warning though, since it’s not very explicit. I find myself preferring to stay in the sensual with them in this story, to focus more on the emotions instead of on the act in itself. I hope you will appreciate. Now place to the story. Enjoy!
> 
>  

They walked through the precinct hand in hand, fingers entwined with only one goal in mind, that of getting out of there as fast as possible. Many of their coworkers seemed ready to call out to Lucifer or come to him to greet his unexpected return and probably also to inquire about his strange clothing and state of dishevelment, but decided otherwise. Maybe it was the way the new couple held to one another that kept the agents from interrupting, or the way the new lovers’ eyes sparkled whenever their eyes met. Whatever the reason was, they made it out in a record time.  
   
First things first, Chloe decided to stop and grab some takeout for Lucifer along with four bottles of water. He ordered the equivalent of three meals and almost ate all of it on their way to his place, but not before gulping down the entire reserve of water she’d brought. He finally dozed off in the passenger’s seat, exhaustion having caught up with him at last.  
   
Wanting to let him rest, but unable to keep herself from touching him, Chloe slid her hand in his and rubbed his skin lightly with her thumb while she tried to keep her eyes on the road. The feel of his skin was electric, addictive. She never wanted to let him go, ever again. The soft smile that appeared at the corner of his lips was the only sign indicating that he was still at least slightly aware.  
   
Chloe held his hand the whole way to Lux. It wasn’t clear if he slept at all since his eyes opened easily when she stopped the engine down into the parking garage just beside his corvette.  
   
"Hello sleepy head," she welcomed him back softly with a loving smile.  
   
His eyes lit up like stars in spite of the utter exhaustion she could read in them. Her hand still resting in his, he brought it to his lips to lay a light kiss over her knuckles.  
   
"You’re quite a sight for sore eyes, Darling." He still found a way to look roguish.  
   
Chloe shook her head at the way her insides fluttered at his words. "You charmer!"  
   
She joined him on his side of the car and laced an arm around him, allowing him to lean a little bit onto her. They made their way up to the penthouse silently, content to just feel each other’s warm body.  
   
Once at his place, she directed him towards the bathroom where she helped him take his clothes off as well as hers. He didn’t utter any smart comment or innuendo, preferring to admire her silently with a look of awe in his eyes. She could feel him shaking slightly under her fingers, his muscles certainly nearing their capacities’ limit.  
   
They got into the shower where Lucifer braced himself against the wall with both hands just under the warm spray of water. Eyes closed with his head hanging down, he looked on the verge of crumbling dow. Grabbing a sponge, Chloe came behind him and processed to wash him delicately, taking the opportunity to kiss his perfect body numerous times in the process. In spite of his wreaked condition, Lucifer seamed to lean into her every touch.  
   
Washing him also gave her the occasion to check him over for any trace of injuries. There were no traces left of the burnt marks he’d gotten last night during the fire, nor could she see any new wounds over his body, though it was plain as day that he’d lost weight during his imprisonment. Those last six days in Hell really had been hard on him physically, and as she feared, probably also mentally. Tears built up in her eyes at seeing the state he was in and at thinking of how much worse it could have turned out. It took all of her self-control to keep from sobbing again. Once she was done washing him, she kissed the skin between his shoulder blades where she rested her cheek while circling her arms around to bring him into a tight hug.  
   
She was just too wound up in strong emotions to keep the words out. "I feared you were gone for good this time. You have no idea how terrified I’ve been of losing you."  
   
Lucifer turned into her arms to gather her against him and kiss her head. "I’m sorry I frightened you, Love. For what it’s worth, know that I can relate to the feeling. For the last six days, I believed that Lilith had come up here with the firm intention of killing you. I couldn’t even... I...," he stammered, unable to finish his sentence.  
   
The guilt and desperation in his voice were just too much to bear for Chloe. "Oh Lucifer..." She looked up at him and lifted a hand to caress his cheek. "I’m so sorry you had to go through that."  
   
He sounded almost manic when he continued. "You don’t understand, Chloe. I did everything I could to get back to you, but I couldn’t, and you could have died, because of _me_."  
   
Her heart broke for him. "Lucifer, please! Don’t beat yourself up. I know you would have done anything in your power to protect me if you could. Fortunately, we’re not alone in this and someone else was there for me. I knew there would be risks when I made the decision to give in to my love for you, and I don’t regret it. I choose _you_ , Lucifer! With everything that comes with it."  
   
While still amazed by the strength of her love for him, he understood the feeling, for he too was ready to go through anything for her, suffer the worst that his Dad and life could inflict on him if it meant being allowed to love her and be loved by her. He had willingly made the choice to be hers because he believed with every fiber of his being that they belonged together. He didn’t care anymore if it had been one of his Father’s nefarious plan all along. At this point, he knew that he could never go back and deny his undying love for that woman. He was hers and would always be, and he’d come to believe that her decision to choose him was made out of freewill. He’d made his peace with that after the Pierce’s saga, having convinced himself that her choice to fall in love with him had been her own after all.  
   
A cold dread suddenly obscured his heart.  
   
Could it still be considered freewill if Chloe didn’t know all the facts?  
   
She knew the real him now and accepted everything that he was, but she didn’t know everything _she_ was, nor the possibility, even if very slight, that her love for him could have been engineered...  
   
Furthermore, the risks to her life for loving him were more real than ever, and she deserved to know everything if she was to take that risk in addition to choosing to wait for him for the rest of her life. He loved her too much to keep it from her any longer, even if there was a chance that she would reject him once she learned the whole truth.  
   
He refocussed his eyes on Chloe’s to discover that his lack of answer to her declaration was starting to worry her. She was looking at him nervously, as if wondering if she’d said something wrong.  
   
His mind now set, the words simply left his lips in a hush tone. "There is something that you have the right to know, and that I should have told you long ago. Something that might change the way you feel about me."  
   
Her eyes narrowed in incertitude and she slowly released his face to rest both hands on his hips, obviously very nervously to hear him out. "What is it you’re trying to tell me?"  
   
Lucifer framed her face tenderly and smiled with all the love he felt for her.  
   
"Whatever you choose to believe or do once you’ve learned the truth, be it even to walk away from me, know that my love for you will never die."  
   
She bit her lower lip and nodded slightly, visibly hardening herself for what he wanted to say. "Okay."  
   
Very conscious that what he was about to say could very well destroy everything they had, Lucifer drew a deep shuddering breath and took a leap of faith.  
   
"You already know that you make me vulnerable, but what I haven’t told you is why."  
   
"I thought you didn’t know." It sounded a lot like an accusation.  
   
"To say the truth, I don’t know exactly why, but I know how. You are a _miracle,_ Chloe, sent on this Earth by my Father, and I believe he put you into my path for a purpose."    
   
Shock and disbelief were visible in all her features. She shook her head vehemently to deny it. "What are you talking about? It doesn’t make any sense. And how can you be so sure that I’m a miracle?"  
   
"Actually, the miracle part is the only thing I am certain of. See, Amenadiel recognized your mother, whom he blessed many years ago so she would give birth to a miracle child; you Chloe."  
   
She could only gape at him in shock. Her breathing rate increasing with every new truth he threw at her. It actually made more sense than she wanted to admit, considering that the doctors always claimed that her mother should never have been able to conceive. Her creation had always been some kind of medical mystery.  
   
Lucifer let her digest the information for a moment before pursuing. "I learned of your origin the day you were poisoned. I first thought that Father was manipulating us both and that your love for me wasn’t real, but engineered by Him. Hence my running away to Vegas, intending to never come back. By doing so, I thought that I was giving you back your freewill and stopping Him from using you against me. Because even back then, I was already head over heels in love with you, Chloe, and he knew that. He knew that I would do anything to keep you safe." He sighed dejectedly. "I had it all planned out, but I just couldn’t stay away from you," he added sheepishly. That’s why I married Candy, hoping that it would help you recover your freedom and that we could resume our partnership like before."  
   
Her mind was turning at a hundred per hour, going back over the events of that period to make sense of them with her new perspective. She finally came to her first conclusion.  
   
"You pushed me away! You never gave me any choice in it, Lucifer. What you did was to take away my freewill."  
   
"No! No! You don’t understand," he said in horror. "I was trying to protect you."  
   
"I think I understand just fine," she cut in angrily. "You made the stupidest choice even though you were not even sure of what my being a miracle meant."  
   
He snapped his mouth shut, unable to refute her accusation. For he knew that his judgement had been poor at the time and that he’d acted foolishly.  
   
Chloe’s lower lip was trembling with emotions and her voice was barely above a whisper. "Do you have any idea what it did to me when you left?"  
   
His eyes were pleading her to understand. "If you felt half as bad as I did, then it was already too much."  
   
She sobbed at the memory, thinking how he really had no idea of the devastation he left behind him. It was long overdue for him to face the facts. "It literally ripped me apart, Lucifer!"  
   
Lucifer’s eyes filled up with tears. He already knew that he’d broken her heart back then, but to hear her say so was more than he could take.  
   
"I know I could never apologize enough for what I did to you, Chloe, but for what it’s worth, I’m sorry!"  
   
Not even acknowledging his attempt at an apology, she continued with her ranting, her anger rising another notch in spite of herself. "How could you even think that my feelings for you were not real? After everything we’ve been through together?"  
   
He took his head in his hands, desperate to make her understand, even if he wasn’t sure to understand it himself. "I want this to be real, Chloe, so damn much. I wanted you to choose me, the real me, and not just who you thought me to be. And I wanted you to do it _willingly,_ without my Dad’s interference. Now, at long last, I like to believe that you did, otherwise I wouldn’t be here with you today. But I realize that beyond my beliefs, what is even more important now that you know everything, is what _you_ , Chloe, believe."  
   
Chloe’s anger came down at last, realising that she had no idea what the answer to that question was. For a long moment, she seriously considered her feelings for this otherworldly being and the choices she made regarding him. They both kept staring at each other, arms loosely wrapped around their naked bodies while the warm water was running over their skin.  
   
Lucifer was almost shaking with sheer anxiety, waiting for the axe to drop. Maybe he’d been wrong in the end and Chloe would turn out to believe that she was being played and leave him... Just the idea of losing her and having to spend the rest of his life without her love was making him dizzy.  
   
She finally started talking, softly at first, then with increasing fervor. "I have loved other men before in my life, but it never even came close to the way I feel about you, Lucifer. What’s the worst case scenario here? That your Dad made me fall in love with you? That I had no choice in it? Then how could I resent him for that beautiful gift? Because don’t get it wrong, Lucifer, this, what we have, is a _gift_. The most beautiful gift there is. If it took God’s intervention to get it, I couldn’t care less. I should probably thank your Dad and kiss his feet for it."  
   
Lucifer chuckled wetly, the tension leaving him slightly. "The bastard would like that kind of worshipping way too much."  
   
With a small smile, Chloe drew him closer against her. "But you know what? Even though I believe that your Dad may have indeed make our paths cross, and that our connexion might very well come from Him, I don’t believe He is the one who makes me feel the way I feel about you, and I’m relieved that you don’t think that anymore. I mean, I even despised you when we first met." Lucifer scoffed at that and she laugh at the recollection. "It took me months to develop feelings for you, and even longer to fall for you. But I did, slowly and irremediably, until it consumed me. And you know why?" Of course Lucifer looked completely clueless. "It wasn’t your devilish charm nor your mojo, but because you are so damn adorable when you want to be, and because you’ve slowly opened up to me and let me see who you really were, with all your flaws and vulnerabilities, and I think you’re _beautiful_."  
   
He was on the verge of tears, totally overwhelmed by emotions. His shaky hand came back to caress her lovely face. The pure love he could read in her eyes was almost choking him.  
   
He tried to find the right words.  
   
"I’m not adorable," his brain finally came up with.  
   
Chloe chuckled with tears spilling from her eyes. "Oh yes you are." And to make her point she kissed him, so very tenderly at first, then with more fervor when she felt him melt against her lips and return the kiss.  
   
After a long passionate exchange, they nuzzled each other, keeping their lips barely brushing each other’s skin, relishing in the feel of their love.  
   
"Did you really think that I would run away from you once I learned the truth?" Chloe asked incredulously.  
   
"Well, you might have, all odds considered."  
   
She shook her head in wonder at his utter lack of understanding. "I did choose you, Lucifer, and I’m not about to reconsider that choice anytime soon, not even if it turned out that God himself meddled into it. Though I can’t promise that I won’t have a freak out once I stop and really think about the whole miracle thing, but it will never make me reconsider anything about you. You make me whole, Lucifer, like I never thought possible, and there’s no way I’m gonna give you up. I don’t have answers any more than you do as to why your Father made us cross path, yet if you’re willing to face the risks of loving me, so do I. The only real truth that I know for sure is that we belong together."  
   
Hearing her voicing the exact same belief that he had was what made the last tension drain from him.  
   
 _She knew everything and she still wanted to be with him._  
   
It was as if a heavy weight had just been lifted from his shoulders. He felt as light as a feather and free, as if reborn into someone new, because now they were two and would always be.  
  
He really was the luckiest bastard in the whole Universe!  
   
He dissolved into a sobbing mess, burying his head in the crook of her neck and crushing her into a tight embrace. "You’re amazing! You know that?" he managed to say.  
   
She kissed his neck and gripped him just as tightly. "It’s great time that you become aware of that if you ask me," she teased him joyfully. "Now, please! You’ve got to stop assuming what I want and making decisions for me. We’re in this together from now on."  
   
Lucifer nodded against her shoulder, then lifted his head to stare at her intensely. "You’re right, we are." His face split into the most amazing smile ever. "This is real, isn’t it?"  
   
Chloe smiled as widely and chuckled in happiness. "Yes, this is real," she breathed against his lips.   
   
Lucifer surprised her with a breathtaking kiss more powerful than she ever thought him capable of in his condition. He plundered her mouth as if he wanted to consume her and she kissed him back with equal passion. As the minutes passed and they continued kissing and caressing under the spray, she could feel Lucifer’s last boost of strength wearing off rapidly, until he was practically leaning on her to keep standing.  
   
With a moan of pleasure mixt with frustration, she left his lips to frame his face and place a soft kiss over his forehead. "You’re about to drop dead, Babe. Let’s go to bed."  
   
He was way too drained out to argue with her, though he insisted to shave his six-days beard before going to bed while Chloe finished washing herself up.  
   
Lucifer finally joined her under the covers. His eyes dropped closed as soon as his head hit the pillow, a long sigh of contentment leaving his lips at the same time. Chloe had never seen him in such a state of exhaustion and to say the truth, her own tiredness was catching up with her too. She snuggled up against him and laid her head on his shoulder with a hand resting over his torso. Lucifer sneaked an arm around her to bring her body even closer to his while he entwined the fingers of his other hand with her owns over his heart.  
   
She knew it was selfish of her to distract him from sleep, yet Chloe couldn’t resist the urge to lay soft kisses all over his torso. Her love for him was simply blinding her, and his skin was so soft and tasted just like heaven. The taste of him was heightening her need for this man who was making her life so beautiful. She did her best not to get all worked up, telling herself that she was only kissing him good night. After all, Lucifer was in no condition whatsoever to do anything energy consuming at the moment. To be honest, she didn’t think she had it in her either. Nonetheless, she slowly ghosted her way across his skin and up his neck until she reached his mouth. She was already panting when she slid her tongue between his lips to entangle it languorously with his eager one. It didn’t take long for her to feel the want pool between her legs even though Lucifer wasn’t participating with as much ardour as usual. Still, the way he was kissing her back was passing on all the love he felt for her. They both moaned at the loss when she drew back after a minute. His eyes were still closed, probably too heavy for him to open them anymore.  
   
"Sleep well, Babe," she whispered close to his ear where she laid one final kiss.  
   
Apparently, Lucifer had no intention of ending their moment so fast. She suspected that he even had other ideas in mind when she felt him slightly move against her lower body, brushing his hips against hers in a lascivious wave. She could feel his manhood already hard against her feverish flesh. It sent the fire already present in her core coursing through her entire body like wildfire. She tried to remind herself that even though that part of him was still standing strong, the same could not be said for the rest of him. Her new spike of excitement was fuelling her sinful ideas as well as giving her a boost of energy. Still, she wasn’t sure to have what it takes to go through what they apparently both had in mind if she was to do most of the job herself.  
   
At that moment, Lucifer’s leg squirreled in between hers and came to press exactly where he knew she needed it, annihilating in the process the last bits of reserve she still had. She let escape a long moan of pleasure that would have shamed her with any other partner were it not Lucifer. He knew how to make her body sing and she was aware of how much he relished in every little sound he could drag out of her. He also knew how to make her lose all control of her body and mind.  
   
Her voice was shaking with need. " _Lucifer..._ ,"she warned him for good measure, just in case he had no idea what he was getting himself into. She nibbled at his earlobe, not bothering anymore to control her body now moving in slow waves against his. Thank God, her warning didn’t seem to have any effect on his growing passion as his mouth roamed over her throat, kissing her sloppily while his tired arms were mostly just enveloping her tenderly.  
   
"Chloe, please!" The wanton need dripping from his voice was confirming that he needed her as much as she needed him.  
   
After their last stressful separation, and this emotional talk, they both felt the overpowering need to reconnect, to experience once more that amazing bound that they shared.  
   
At that stage, Chloe’s mind was almost completely obscured by her passion for him. Still conscious of her lack of energy though, she turned around in his arms and spooned up against his front, wriggling her bottom against his hardness to spur him on. Lucifer immediately wrapped his arms around her, grasping one of her breast while his other hand came resting over her belly to bring her even more flush against him. He growled deeply into her ear, his hot breath sending another wave of want in her entire being.  
   
His wandering hand moved slowly from her belly to her inner tight where it sneaked into her folds. He deftly started to make her fall apart while nibbling and kissing her neck and ear. Before he could bring her to the brink, she slipped her hand between them to grasp and guide him to her entrance. She arched her back to help him get access and then he finally, _finally,_ entered her. They both gasped loudly as their bodies came together, deeper, and deeper, until they could swear it felt as if their souls were touching.  
   
Chloe’s head fell backwards, baring her throat to him in the process, allowing his hungry mouth to taste every parcel of skin in its reach.  
   
When he started moving inside her, it was in painstakingly slow waves, and it felt as if he was caressing her entire being. She reached down to cover his hand still resting between her folds to encourage him to stroke her mount at the same rhythm as his body was moving inside her. Their uninterrupted pants and moans sounded like sweet music that was fuelling their mutual needs.  
   
In an attempt to share more of herself and feel him even more, Chloe grabbed his head from behind and tilted hers to reach his lips. They kissed deeply and moved together at a slow pace, sharing all of themselves in complete abandon.  
   
Their exchange lasted long minutes, neither having the energy nor the will to reach the conclusion quickly. They also both knew that their time together was near its end and that every time they made love could be the last, therefore making them even less inclined to rush things. That knowledge also brought some sort of desperation to their lovemaking.  
   
At one point, Chloe felt Lucifer’s movements quicken shakily and lose their rhythm, his panting getting uneven against her lips. Knowing he was getting close to his release, she joined her fingertips with his to help bring her over the edge, which allowed them to share this ultimate moment of bliss together.  
   
They came down slowly, both panting with their hearts hammering with love and from way too much exertion. Once almost recovered, Chloe entwined her fingers with the hand still gripping her breast to bring it to her lips while she slid her other hand over his hip to caress his back side and keep him deep inside her. He kissed her neck and lingered there, still breathing hard and sounding as if he were at the end of his last once of energy.  
   
At long last, both their breathing slowed down and their heartrates decreased to a more viable level. The tiredness that had been partly pushed aside by their passion finally came back in force to envelope them.  
   
Still tangled together, they simply fell asleep, Lucifer still inside her, right where he belonged.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can’t say I didn’t warn you about the fluff ;) Hoping you liked it. Thanks in advance for letting me reviews or comments, you have no idea how happy any of them makes me feel. Thanks for reading! See you soon.
> 
>  


	14. How Could he Have Missed That?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Too caught up into this story, I decided to write another chapter before going back to my other one, Back from the Shadows. And this chapter is quite long, more than 6500 words! So buckle up and enjoy the bumpy ride!
> 
>  

Chloe slowly awoke up to a most pleasant feeling in her core. It was soft and warm, almost as if her whole being was being caressed. She had no idea where it came from, only that she didn’t want it to stop. Slowly, awareness settled into her cloudy brain and a beautiful smile spread over her face. She stretched out languorously, molding her backside even more firmly against Lucifer’s hips. The small moan of contentment that left her lips seemed to reassure Lucifer of her appreciation for this unusual awakening, for she felt his arms, previously only loosely wrapped around her, tighten their hold and bring her tenderly against his front.  
   
"I told you you could never move slowly enough for me to be able to sleep while you’re inside me," she teased him.  
   
She felt his smile stretch against her neck where he was now applying open mouthed kisses while his hips were still rocking her at a leisurely pace.  
   
There was also a smile in his purring voice. "When I woke up like that inside you, I just couldn’t hold myself back. There’s just so much self-control a Devil can keep. It could also be seen as a scientific experiment?"  
   
His warm breath against her ear and the deep rumbling of his sexy voice reverberating through her ribcage sent waves of desire down her center, as if she didn’t desire him enough already.  
   
"Because you are usually so scientific in your approaches," she countered playfully between two involuntary moans of pleasure.  
   
It made him chuckle happily. He sounded good, way better than before their nap. Chloe’s sight fell on the alarm clock on the nightstand which indicated that it was close to 4pm. They had slept during almost five hours straight.  
   
"It’s practically a miracle that we were able to sleep that long without being interrupted," she wondered aloud.  
   
"Oh but we were, actually. Your phone chirped with an incoming texto a few moments ago. Why do you figure I woke up already?" When he felt her tensing he quickly added, with a comforting caress of her hair, "but don’t worry, Love, I’m sure if it was important they would have called instead. We should have time to wake up properly before diving back into reality."  
   
Chloe relaxed once more against him. He was right, they deserved some alone time, and Lucifer probably still needed to rest a bit considering what he just went through.  
   
Her worry about his wellbeing resurfaced at the reminder of his recent ordeal. She reach over his hip to caress him. "How are you feeling Babe?"  
   
She liked calling him with this new term of endearment, which was another proof of their new relationship status. And she thought he appreciated the nickname, if the sparkles she’d seen in his eyes the few times she’d used it was any indication. The way he pushed even deeper inside her at hearing it told her that she was probably right about the effect it had on him.  
   
He sounded agreeably puzzled once he focussed enough on the question to answer it. "Actually, I’m feeling good as new. Considering your proximity, I would have thought it to take longer. On the other hand, it also makes sense since it wasn’t really an injury but only a weakness due to lack of sleep and nutriments. Who would have thought that burgers could be so good for one’s health?"  
   
Chloe giggled at his conclusion as well as at the relief she felt to know that he was doing so good already. Wrapping her hands around his arms, she ran her fingers down his skin in slow strokes and incited him to fondle her breasts more firmly once she reached his hands.   
   
A little devilish smile appeared at the corner of her lips. "Good as new, hun? She was feeling a lot better herself and definitely in the mood to raise the stakes some more.  
   
"That sounds a lot like a challenge, _Detective_." He accentuated every syllables of her title in that sexy way of his. "You still have a mind of testing me to make sure that I’ve recovered all of my strength?" He lengthen and deepened his stokes inside her to emphasise the idea.  
   
Chloe stifled a moan and caught her breath long enough to reply, "it wouldn’t be responsible of me otherwise..."  
   
As if she’d just given him the start signal, Lucifer slipped out and flipped her over to reposition himself between her open legs. Without waiting another second, he sheeted himself back deep inside her in a swift movement that took both their breaths away.  
   
His lust-filled gaze turned mischievous in a second. "Prepare yourself to be convinced then." And he served her his best devilish smile.  
   
His good mood was contagious and she busted into laughter as he started moving inside her languidly with renewed energy.  
   
She reached out to grab his hair and bring his mouth down over hers in a searing kiss that would also serve to erase that cocky smile off his face.  
   
The next twenty minutes were a rolling thunder of lust and passion, of burning love and laughter, as only two lovers who had completely surrendered to each other could experience.  
   
They ended up sprawled out sideways on the bed with beatific smiles over their faces, completely spent and at the same time entirely invigorated.  
   
Chloe giggled from under him, with his head still cradled between her breasts. "Okay, I have to grant you that you seem ready to tackle down a few demons."  
   
Lucifer chuckled with her for a moment until her words really made their way to their rational minds. The mood rapidly changed to a gloomier one at the reminder of what was waiting for them outside this bedroom.  
   
Chloe hugged him a bit more fiercely and kissed his head, lingering there for a few moments.  
   
She whispered her next words, feeling even guilty to voice them. "We should probably get up and have a shower before heading for the precinct."  
   
As much as she wanted nothing more than to continue indulging in their love and forget the world around them, she also knew that each minute spent here could mean another death at Lilith’s hand or her demon’s.  
   
"I know..." Lucifer conceded reluctantly with a long sigh.  
   
He kissed her flesh tenderly one last time before rolling away to sit up on the side of the bed.  
   
Chloe sat up slowly beside him and leant into his side. Their little bubble of love and peace was well and truly burst now. Time to return to the real world with all its horrors and heartbreaks. She could feel her eyes burning with threatening tears just thinking again of their upcoming separation.  
   
Chloe mentally shook herself. It wasn’t time to break down now. They had work to do and Lucifer wasn’t gone yet. They would still have some time together, and she intended to make the most of it.  
   
She tilted her head up to him to discover that his sad gaze was reflecting her state of mind. She forced a smile on her lips and cupped his face tenderly. Without talking, she just leaned in to kiss his lips softly and comfort both of them. The little smile he gave her reached his eyes and dissipated partially the sadness in them.  
   
With a more genuine smile, Chloe finally rose up and grabbed her phone to check who left her a message.  
   
There were actually two of them, the first one being from Amenadiel and dating from about two hours ago while the more recent one was from Dan. She quickly went over the one from Lucifer’s brother, nervous to get an update about their precarious situation. They were good news, to her greatest relief. It said that the demons following them had been dealt with and that they had moved into a secure hideout with Ramiel who was still watching their backs. The angel ended by saying not to worry about Trixie, that she was handling their little trip with more excitement than nervousness.  
   
Chloe shook her head in wonder at her daughter’s strength. That kid would never cease to amaze her.  
   
Dan’s message was shorter and more to the point, saying, « _We know where Lilith is. Come to the precinct as soon as you can»_.  
   
After Chloe passed on the news to Lucifer, they both took another shower together, quite shorter this time. The happy mood they were in when they woke up had unfortunately dissipated at the mention of Lilith and they were both left with a strange foreboding feeling. They hardly spoke while getting ready to leave for the precinct, though they could barely stop touching or embracing, and steal kisses at every opportunities. It scared Chloe to see the way they needed each other almost as much as they needed air. Their impending separation was promising to be even more horrible than she had envisioned.  
   
She couldn’t fathom how she would survive it.  
   
Even if they were not looking forward to get back to their supernatural investigation, they were both curious to hear how Dan managed to find Lilith. It sounded almost too good to be true.  
   
By the time they left the penthouse, the day had turned dark and rainy, as if to accompany the gloomy mood they were in. Heavy clouds were gathering in the distance, threatening to turn the weather into an actual storm. When they finally set foot inside the precinct, they were surprised to find it still quite busy even though the day shift was already over. The grim faces that met them were evidence that something was going on, and it couldn’t be good. The nervous tension in the place was unmistakable.  
   
Not seeing either Dan or Ella in the main area, they made their way directly to the lab, completely ignored by the restless agents working around them. When they entered the room,             Maze, Dan, Azrael, and Ella were all leaning over a map, arguing about how to approach Lilith and her demonic soldiers.  Looking much better than earlier, it was evident that Maze had gotten some rest too and taken the time to shower and change into a clean set of clothing.  
   
Their demonic friend was the first to lift her gaze up to them with a devious smile grazing her lips. "How is it Decker is still walking straight after you got her into bed? Have you lost your mojo, Lucifer?"  
   
"I beg your pardon?" Lucifer looked quite affronted and ready to defend his virility.  
   
Chloe beat him to it, preferring to control the amount of information that would be divulged in front of all their friends.  
   
"Maybe I’m just tougher than I look. Have you thought of that, Maze?" she through at her with a cheeky smile.  
   
Maze lifted her eyebrows in stunned surprise before smirking in appreciation at her human friend.  
   
Lucifer added oil to the fire. " _That_ , she is," he purred proudly as he brought Chloe against him with a possessive arm.  
   
"Way to go Decker!" exclaimed Ella with glee.  
   
Azrael was smiling knowingly while Dan seemed ready to dig himself into the floor.  
   
Chloe closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose with a loud sigh.  
   
 _She should so not have said anything!_  
  
If she could disappear right now she would.  
   
Chloe racked her throat in discomfort and disengaged slowly from Lucifer. Though not ready to part completely from him, she slipped the fingers of her left hand through his to keep him close. She felt him caress the back of her hand lovingly with his thumb in answer.  
   
Forcing herself to focus back on her friends instead of losing herself into Lucifer’s amorous gaze, Chloe turned the conversation around to a safer topic. "Sooo, what’s going on out there? What’s with all the grim faces?"  
   
The change of subject seemed to help Dan regain his composure. When he sat down at the table to answer her, everyone followed his lead and sat too. "Well, you remember the two cops that were supposed to watch the area around the crime scene at the burnt shelter this morning?"  
   
Chloe narrowed her eyes, afraid she understood where he was going with this. "You mean the ones who never showed up while we were attacked by Lilith, nor even afterwards while waiting for a team to come and process the new crime scene of the two dead demons?"  
   
"Yeah, those ones. Turned out they never showed up again. Instead, two pools of blood were found near the edge of the perimeter, suggesting that they had been attacked, but no bodies were ever found."  
   
Chloe cringed. "Damn! I knew one of them, he was a good guy. Looks like our suspicions were correct and that Lilith now have two new demons on her side."  
   
Dan nodded sternly. "That certainly looks to be the case. However, from a rational point of view, the evidences led the Lieutenant to think that they could have been kidnapped. Hence all the new hands assigned on that case since the beginning of the afternoon to try and find our men. So the Lieutenant accepted immediately when I talked about putting surveillance around the three other shelters and the church originally supervised by the deceased Father McMahon. I implied that a criminal organization could have taken roots there and that our agents could be held hostages in one of those places by the blond woman that we claimed had killed two of her own men right in front of us."  
   
Chloe was impressed by the way Dan had turned the situation to their advantage. She hated having to lie about what happened into an official report, but there really had no whey they could admit that Azrael had been the one to kill those demons. And fortunately, chances were more than slim that witnesses would contradict their statements since the area had been closed from a few blocks away. However, the scenario Dan had woven had a catastrophic potential.  
   
"You realize that it could lead to a carnage if our SWAT team attacked a nest of demons, right?"  
   
Dan ran a hand through his hair tiredly. "I know Chlo! Hopefully it won’t come to that. That really is the only way I could think of to get resources to track Lilith quickly. And it payed off. A woman with Lilith’s description was spotted entering St-Barnaby’s Church accompanied by a number of people. Considering that they put a notice on the front door announcing that the church would be closed off all evening for maintenance, we have raisons to believe that she is planning to stay there for a while. An agent is still keeping an eye out for her and will call us and follow her if she leaves. And lucky for us, the two missing agents were spotted entering one of the shelters, all by their own, without being coerced to do so, and looking quite alive. So now they are considered turncoats and the Lieutenant prefers to keep an eye on the place and collect intel before undertaking any actions."  
   
Lucifer was also concerned for the cops whose lives would be at risk if they were sent against a bunch of demons. "I’ll make sure to stop Lilith before the Lieutenant decides to send his SWAT team inside that shelter. Hopefully we should still have a few hours before us to achieve that. Do we know how many demons we should be up against at the church?"  
   
Dan shrugged. "We’re not sure. From the moment the surveillance took place, twelve people were seen entering the church by the rear door, Lilith included, but a lot more could have already been inside before that. I’m not sure we can take them all by our own."  
   
Maze who was leisurely sprawled on a chair with her feet up on the table snarled threateningly and swirled her two daggers in the air. "Bring them on! I’m gonna cut the lot of them to pieces, whatever their numbers are."  
   
Lucifer rolled his eyes. "Yes Maze, we’re well aware of your willingness to put yourself into arms way. However, there could still be human beings inside that church, so we’ll have to be smart about it if we want them to stay alive."  
   
"Not much chances about that if you ask me," said Maze under her breath.  
   
The Devil ignored his demon’s pessimism and looked around the table to evaluate his own forces.  
   
He finally nodded, resigned. "Alright, we’ll go in, Maze, Daniel, and I. Azrael, would you accept to follow us inside but to stay hidden? That way you could have our backs and surprise them if anything went wrong or if humans were in danger."  
   
Azrael nodded seriously. "I’m not about to let those demons roam the Earth without intervening. I’ll have your back, brother."  
   
She would never admit it, but Azrael also had another reason to go against Lilith. Her pride had been quite manhandled when Lilith countered her attack this morning and threw her away like some garbage. The Angel of Death was secretly hoping for a revenge over the way too prideful demon.  
   
Chloe was getting nervous at not hearing her name in Lucifer’s plan. There was no way she would accept being left behind. "And what am I supposed to do? Keep the coffee warm while you all risk your lives? I won’t have that, Lucifer!" She was gripping his hand tightly, jaws clenched.  
   
Lucifer looked like he was doing an effort to stay calm. "Love, do I really need to remind you that you make me vulnerable? A fight is clearly unavoidable, so I’ll need all my strength if we hope to get out of there in one piece. You can’t come with us, that’s as simple as that. However, "and he lifted a finger to stop her when she opened her mouth to argue, "since the Lieutenant will clearly want for a SWAT team to cover us now that he knows about Lilith, you could stay in the surveillance truck a few blocks from the church and keep an ear on us while we go in, while at the same time coordinating with the SWAT team who would stay in standby just in case we could need them."  
   
Chloe closed her mouth shut with a snap and considered Lucifer’s plan. It actually made sense, and she would still be close enough to him to be able to act if he needed help.  
   
After a long moment of hesitation, she reluctantly agreed. "I guess it could be acceptable."  
   
Still, she didn’t like it at all, and she knew it was written all over her face. Lucifer on the other hand smiled at her in relief and to her surprise leant into her to drop a light kiss upon her lips. It made the scroll on her face disappear instantly.  
   
"Thank you Love. Knowing that you are safe will also help ease my mind and allow me to better focus on the task."  
   
Chloe smiled a little. She guessed that there was no reason to have the two of them worry about each other’s safety. She could do it for the both of them.  
   
She cupped his face and nodded slightly in acceptance.    
   
"And me? What am I supposed to do? I want to help," Ella blurted out, literally bouncing onto her seat.  
   
Azrael almost got out of her chair, her eyes wide with fear for her friend. "You stay right here, out of harm’s way of course."  
   
Ella looked indignant. "Come on Rae Rae! I’m not a child anymore." She did sound a lot like a kid saying that though. "I can handle myself in a fight, and I know how to use a gun."  
   
Lucifer cleared his throat. "I don’t want to question your fighting skills, Miss Lopez, but I have to side with my sister on that one. You would actually be of greater help here, at keeping an eye on the shelter’s operation to inform us of the evolution of the situation."  
   
Ella’s indignation dissipated slowly as she analysed that new point of view. "I guess it makes sense?!" she conceded as reluctantly as Chloe had only a moment ago.  
   
"Besides," Lucifer continued, "shouldn’t you be working on our load of bodies retrieved from the fire, and on the two new ones that my sister had to finish off this morning?"  
   
The petite forensic scientist shrugged annoyingly. "It’s not like I’ll have a lot of work to do on them since I know exactly what happened to those poor souls. But I guess I could busy myself with writhing imaginative reports about it." She grimaced at the prospect.  
   
Lucifer clapped his free hand on the table. "It’s settled then! Now let’s wrap up the last details and be on our way."  
   
It actually took a lot longer than Lucifer had been hoping for since they had to wait both for their imposed SWAT team and for the surveillance van to be ready. Meanwhile, it let them the time to eat something and decide from which side they would enter the church. There was a side door they supposed should lead to the basement from where they could sneak inside with greater chances of being unnoticed.  
   
The SWAT team’s leader turned out to be quite pissed to be asked to stay out of sight of the target building, but had no real say into it since Dan and Chloe were the ones to call the shots here. Chloe had to make a concession though and accept to be accompanied by a SWAT member inside the surveillance van. She would have to make sure that the agent didn’t hear too much supernatural talk though.  
   
They finally arrived at the church around eight o’clock. The rain was by now pouring down heavily and the thick cover of cloud had made the early evening darken before its time. They could see lightning far into the distance and by the sound of the rumbling thunder, the storm looked to be moving their way and fast.  
   
Lucifer had made the ride with Chloe at the back of the van while the SWAT agent was driving it and the others were following in a separate car. Once parked in their previously chosen spot two blocks away from the church, Chloe looked at her cameras’ images to assess her field of vision.  
   
While she was glad that the noise of the storm and the darkness would help cover her friends’ advance towards the church, Chloe was also frustrated by the low visibility it left her. From her position, she should see clearly the main entrance and the side door where the group would be entering. Frustratingly, with the actual weather conditions, she could barely make out the two big wooden doors at the top of the front stairs. Yet, it would be impossible for her to move closer for fear of endangering Lucifer with her proximity. She would have to content herself with what she had and with listening to Lucifer’s updates over the microphone he was wearing. She would also be able to talk to him through an earpiece to keep him informed about the shelter’s operation led by their Lieutenant, if she got any news, and to warn him if anyone threatened to enter the church after him, according that she saw anything...  
   
From his seat beside her in front of the computers, Lucifer eased her scowl with a tender caress of his thumb over her lips as he cupped her face to bring her focus on him.  
   
"Don’t worry, Love. We can do this," he whispered, his eyes soft and warm.  
   
Chloe covered his hand with hers to keep it over her face and feel his warmth. "I know..."  
   
She wanted to say more, tell him that she believed in their chances and that everything would be okay in the end. But somehow, she wasn’t sure she really believed it. And apparently Lucifer either since he didn’t say that he thought they would succeed, but only that they could.  
   
Instead of stressing it out to him, she buried her head in the crook of his neck and closed her eyes to contain the tears that threatened to reveal just how much afraid she was of losing him. Lucifer hugged her back just as forcefully as she was and kissed the side of her head. She took a few long calming breathes, inhaling Lucifer’s intoxicating scent and putting it to memory just in case...  
   
She drew strength from his love and at last felt like she was steady enough to face what was to come. Disengaging slightly from him, she lifted her gaze up to his and they both smiled with a new acquired serenity, for they both knew that they would always have each other’s love, whatever happened tonight or in the future.  
   
Without saying another word, their lips met in a sweet, languorous kiss. Unhurriedly, they lost themselves into this now familiar and amazing swirl of tastes and amazing sensations.  
   
The back door opening suddenly took them out of their intimate moment quite forcefully.  
   
An annoyed Maze was looking at them pointedly with her hands on her hips. "Ready, Loverboy? We don’t have all night."  
   
Both Lucifer and Chloe rolled their eyes at the demon’s demeanor.  
   
"Yes Maze! I’m coming," Lucifer sighed.  
   
He turned back to Chloe with a dreamy air about him as his intense gaze bore into hers, conveying all the love he felt for her.  After depositing a final soft kiss upon her lips, he rose up, adjusted his suit, and walked out of the van.  
   
Chloe kept staring for a moment at the empty spot he just vacated before realising what she was doing. With an inside shrug, she took herself out of her torpor and closed the back door. She locked it then motioned for the agent in the front seat to join her as to not attract unwanted attention. Putting the headset over her head, she focused her attention on the screens in front of her and on the sounds coming from Lucifer microphone.  
   
Outside, Lucifer was leading the way, followed by Dan then by Maze who was taking the rear. Lucifer could feel Azrael close by even if she wasn’t visible. It would have been best to send her in first to scout the perimeter, but he was afraid that Lilith would feel her and get alerted too soon of their arrival. On the other hand, Lilith might also sense their presence as they got closer. There was no going around that though, and all they could hope for was to make their way inside quickly while staying as quiet as possible and pray that Lilith would be too distracted by whatever she was doing to sense them approaching.  
   
By the time they arrived at the side door, they were already drenched through by the heavy rainfall. A low light was visible from inside the main part of the church, but all the basement’s windows were dark, suggesting that their plan to break in through there had been a good one. The locked door gave way easily to Lucifer’s powers and they soon found themselves walking down a set of stairs into the obscure building.  
   
Lucifer updated Chloe of their progresses as they went deeper into the demon’s nest and her short answers confirmed that she was receiving him loud and clear.  
   
They became aware of muffled screams that increased in intensity as they walked stealthily towards their origin. They first went through a medium-size room furnished with tables and chairs, then along a series of dark corridors. While Lucifer and Maze had no difficulty manoeuvring through the darkness, Dan however had a hard time keeping up and had to be pushed-guided by Maze most of the way. As they got closer to the screams, it became increasingly evident that they came from people who were being tortured. Lucifer kept whispering updates to Chloe from time to time.  
   
When they eventually approached a flight of stairs faintly lite from above, a conversation reached their ears. The voices were apparently coming from the main chamber of the church up there.  
   
"Damn!" a male voice exclaimed, from a good distance away. "I think that one is dead. That’s unfortunate..."  
   
"You were only supposed to punish that sinner. Did his sin truly warrant his death?" a woman admonished dryly. Lucifer instantly recognised her as Lilith. She sounded to be standing much farther at the back of the great room.  
   
"I don’t think so," the male answered back with a bit of anxiety in his voice. "That one just cheated on his wife. But those humans are way weaker than the souls we get in Hell," he defended himself. "Torturing them is trickier than it seems."  
                                          
It took Lilith a moment to answer him, probably busy considering his words. "Do your best. That bunch is a test run after all, no better time than now to make mistakes don’t you think?"  
   
"Yes Mother," answered the demon with a smile in his voice.  
   
A few other voices could be heard chuckling joyfully at Lilith’s statement.  
   
By that time, the trio had reached the top of the stairs and were peering into the vast chamber through the staircase spindles.    
   
The scene that welcomed them sent creepy shivers through their veins. A dozen persons, women and men alike, some tied up and others not, were being flogged or beaten with various kinds of weapons all around the room. There seemed to be at least twice that number in demons inflicting the torture.  
   
Some of the humans who were not yet tied up, seemed to be getting more agitated at the sight of one of them having been killed. A few even tried to escape only to be brought back forcefully and tied up at their turn.  
   
It came to Lucifer’s mind that the humans might even have come in here willingly at first, looking for a punishment that they thought to be well deserved at the time, but not anymore apparently. The screams redoubled in fear and pain.  
   
Not daring to talk even in whispers to Chloe for fear of giving her presence away, Lucifer considered that she could hear what was going on anyway.  
   
He gazed around the place to look for Lilith and easily spotted her up on the dais close to the altar. The Mother of Demons was leisurely sitting into a luxurious armchair, overlooking the whole operation like a queen while sipping at a glass of red wine. She was wearing a red leathered outfit that outlined perfectly her perfect shape and her blond mane was cascading beautifully over her shoulders.  
   
Lucifer was trying to conjure up a smart plan of attack when he heard Lilith calling to him, not even making the effort to look his way.  
   
"Lucifer, Lucifer!" she sing sang in a liquorish voice. "Don’t be shy and show yourself. I know you’re there. I can always tell when you’re close by. And bring your friends with you, please. The more the merrier!" She sounded all but surprised by his presence here.  
   
At that moment, appeared two demons at the base of the stairs with guns pointed at them. They were forced to walk up the last few steps and to show themselves to Lilith and the other demons. Dan had his own gun drawn at the two demons threatening them from below and Maze was snarling dangerously at the assembled demons with her daggers in hands ready to be used.  
   
Lucifer lifted his head high and gazed mightily at Lilith when she finally deigned to turn her emerald eyes on him.  
   
"Release those people, _NOW_!" The Devil put all his might behind his words to try and control the group of demons.  
   
For a moment, Lilith’s demons hesitated, seemingly struggling to fight against his order.  
   
Their hesitation ended as soon as they heard the clear laughter coming from their mother. After a few giggles, Lilith recovered her countenance enough to speak.  
   
"Do you really think you can turn their devotion from me, their Mother? Don’t be ridiculous, Lucifer."  
   
The demons were now plainly snarling at the Devil, clearly ready to attack him if that’s what their mother was to ask of them.  
   
Lucifer was totally dumbfounded. How could they defy him? How could they listen to Lilith and not to him when _he_ was their king? At least now, he understood why he’d been unable to retrieve any useful information from the few demons that Maze and he had caught during the last two weeks. He also knew that turning into his full Devil’s form would achieve nothing more.  
   
"I’m sorry," Lilith pouted theatrically, "but I’m afraid I can’t release those humans just yet. See, I promised my fellow demons that they would get their fun if they followed me and I’m a demon of my word. But don’t worry too much, most of them should survive the experience and dare I say, come out of it changed, for the better hopefully." She almost looked like she believed herself.  
   
"You have no right punishing human beings, Lilith. Your place is in Hell," the Devil spit disdainfully.  
   
Lilith rose gracefully from her place to look down at him. "Oooh! But that’s where you’re wrong, Lucifer. My place is definitely up here and I have all rights over the people of my new kingdom."  
   
The words from the hellish prophecy rang inside Lucifer’s mind: _When the Devil comes back to Hell, the Mother of Demons will rise from the depths of the Earth and at last claim her rightful place_.  
   
Lucifer could only hope that Lilith was reading it wrong. A small glimmer of hope arose when he realised that while it said that Lilith would claim her rights, nothing assured that she would succeed.  
   
"Hello Mazikeen, Darling!" Lilith’s focus had changed from Lucifer to her daughter while he’d been musing.  
   
The Mother of Demon’s voice was sweet and compelling as she continued to charm her way under Maze’s defenses.  
   
"What are you still doing with that loser of a Devil? You need to come back to your family, Darling, to come back to me. You, my daughter, are one of my greatest achievements," she said in pride. "Your place is by my side," she enforced once more.  
   
Maze had never felt so confused. There was that strong pulse, that need to obey Lilith and to hear the pride in her mother’s voice again. Her devotion to Lucifer suddenly felt almost unimportant in comparison to the one she should have for her mother, all the more now after Lucifer had nullified the vows she’d taken to protect him. She had been following him lately only out of friendship and now she wasn’t sure that their bound was strong enough for her to keep honoring it.  
   
Seeing the confusion all over Maze’s face, Lucifer put a hand on her arm and tried to shake her out of it. "Mazikeen! Look at me! You can’t be seriously considering her offer? Don’t you see she is trying to manipulate you?"  
   
Maze looked back at him as if in a daze. Suddenly, she shrugged herself out of his grasp and backed away from him with her daggers pointed at him, her eyes as wild as a cornered animal.  
   
Lucifer lifted his hands before him to appease her and show that he didn’t mean her any harm.  
   
"Bloody Hell, Maze! What’s wrong with you?"  
   
Maze instinctively lowered her daggers but kept looking utterly lost while she gazed alternately between the Devil and her Mother, seemingly unable to make a decision.  
   
Lilith was beaming at her results. "That’s it Darling! Your time at the Devil’s side has come to an end."  
   
Seeing that Maze was still trying to fight the pull from Lilith, Lucifer figured that the best way to help her was to draw Lilith’s attention away from her. He could barely believe how strong Lilith’s powers were. Had she always been that strong and he just didn’t know of it? That thought brought him back to another mystery about the demon.  
   
Lucifer walked slowly towards Lilith to put himself between mother and daughter. "How did you travel up here in this form to begin with? Demons shouldn’t be able to travel between planes."  
   
"You noticed that, haven’t you?" She wrinkled her nose playfully as if amused. "Do you really think I’ve been showing you the extent of my powers before? There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Morningstar. I’m a lot stronger than you’ve always liked to believe. As it turns out, I’ve been able to get out of Hell since day one. I just never felt like leaving before today, that’s all. After all, why would I have left Hell while all my children were down there?" Her playful air changed to one much deadlier. "But now, things have changed."  
   
Somehow Lucifer believed her. Still, he couldn’t begin to understand how that could be so. Maybe his Father had simply made her stronger since she was the first of demons and would have to create a whole new race?  
   
Lilith interrupted his analysis with a cold voice. "You should never have come back Lucifer. I warned you to stay away from me. You could have kept Hell for yourself and make a good life out of it and I would have left you alone. But of course, you had to make trouble. You can’t say I didn’t give you a chance. Father Kinley actually convinced me that I should let you live, since he was afraid that killing you could ruined my chances to make the prophecy happen, considering that you were mentioned in it. However, now you leave me no choice anymore. I will have to take the risk and kill you. As I will have to kill all of your friends since you chose to ignore my fair warning."  
   
All demons in the room lifted their weapons threateningly and took a step forward, now only a word away from attacking Lucifer and his friends.  
   
The Devil snarled and growled at the demons in defiance before turning back to Lilith. "Because you think you’re strong enough to take me?"  
   
Lilith smiled enigmatically. "Actually, I think I am."  
   
At that moment, the front door burst open.  
   
"Haaa! Right on time," exclaimed Lilith with barely contained excitement. She put down her glass of wine on the altar and clapped her hands happily.  
   
Lucifer turned fully towards the massive wooden doors to see what Lilith could be so thrilled about. His heart sank into a deep sea of despair when his brain fully registered the scene before him.  
   
Her head held high and proud in spite of the fear plastered over her beautiful face, Chloe was walking inside the church, forced to do so by a man who was holding her from behind with a gun against her temple.  
   
Lucifer didn’t understand how he could have been distracted enough not to realise the absence of Chloe’s voice through his earpiece for he couldn’t say how long?  
   
 _How could he have missed that?_  
   
Lucifer’s mind was spinning with utter despair and fear for Chloe’s life. He would die happily in a heartbeat if it meant saving her, but right now he just couldn’t see a way out of this complete mess...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  Only one chapter to go before the end of this story. Please let me know if you liked it. Thanks for reading, and commenting.


	15. The Secret of Creation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG! This is already the last chapter. I am planning to blow your mind with this crazy idea I developed and for which I gave you some clues all along this story. It’s gonna be intense, so buckle up for the ride. Enjoy!
> 
>  

 

A flash of lightning illuminated the church’s entry for a moment, followed closely by a clap of thunder that rumbled ominously above them. The storm was raging outside as strongly as it was inside Chloe’s mind.  
   
 _She should never have come here!_  
   
Her mere presence was endangering the whole operation, Lucifer’s life, her friends’, and humanity’s future. If everything came apart it would be her own fault and she knew it. It had been the worst of mistakes, and one that Lilith had apparently seen coming.  
   
Chloe now suspected that it had been a trap right from the start. Finding Lilith shouldn’t have been this easy, and of course she had to know that Chloe would stay as close to Lucifer as possible, like she had at the Mayan... Lilith had undoubtedly been told about those events. Chloe couldn’t believe how stupid she’d been to underestimate this formidable enemy.  
   
A rough push from behind forced Chloe to move forward further inside the church and away from the storm. She could feel Father Kinley’s new body pressed against her back, and the canon of his gun digging into her temple. In spite of the oppressing fear weighting down on her chest, she kept the most challenging air that she could muster. She was not about to give Kinley and Lilith the pleasure of seeing her scared to death even if she was.  
   
Kinley had surprised her in the surveillance van when he ripped the back door open with his inhuman strength and killed her SWAT guard with a bullet to the head. Chloe had just enough time to draw her gun and shoot blindly before being rammed into by the former priest.  A bullet connected with his shoulder, but it would have taken far more than that to stop him.  
   
Once he’d disarmed and incapacitated her, the first words he whispered dreadfully into her ear immediately convinced her of who he was.  
   
 _‘I told you that we would meet again, Chloe.’_  
   
He’d dragged her towards the church through the storm, all along bragging about the easiness of catching her and how predictable they had been. She couldn’t agree more.  
   
And now Kinley was chuckling madly into her ear, his warm breath tickling her skin and sending a shiver of disgust through her body. Could being turned into a demon drive someone’s soul to become crazy, she wondered? She thought Kinley definitively was.  
   
Now that she had fully entered the church, Chloe could better evaluate her surroundings in the dim lighting provided mostly by chandeliers. The sight was horrifying to say the least, with all those people drenched in blood from evident torturing. They were moaning and weeping in terror even though their persecutors seemed to have lost all interest in them, their focus being now completely drawn to her three friends and to herself. Over twenty of what could only be possessed beings were holding weapons threateningly to keep Lucifer, Maze, and Dan from intervening. Not that they would with her being threatened at the point of a gun, she thought bitterly.  
   
Chloe’s gaze finally followed the sound of the joyous hand clapping coming from the back of the great hall to settle on Lilith. The Mother of Demons started laughing jubilantly at their evident discomfiture.  
   
"Oh! This is sooo perfect. Thanks for coming Detective Decker! You just made my life so much easier," the demon purred in that annoying way of hers.  
   
As a new wave of desperation hit her, Chloe searched for Lucifer’s gaze on the right side of the hall and locked eyes with him. She could see that he was in as much turmoil as she felt, and as terrified. Knowing that she was the cause of his distress was heightening her own torment even more, as was the knowledge that a desperate Lucifer could be a danger to himself, most of all if her life was being threatened. Chloe sobered up instantly at the prospect of seeing him act rashly in a desperate attempt to save her.  
   
In a moment of lucidity, Chloe realised that she could talk to him, warn him.  
   
 _«Lucifer, please don’t do anything crazy. Try to gain time,»_ she sent to him in prayer.  
   
Chloe might not know Lilith very well, but she knew enough by now to guess that the demon would not want to miss a chance to gloat. Time was the only thing on their side at the moment. With enough of it and a little bit of chance, an opportunity might present itself to fight back and get the upper hand. At least that was her reasoning, for what little of it she could still muster right now.  
   
The surprise she saw crossing Lucifer’s features confirmed that he’d received her message.  
   
Lucifer forced a confident smile over his face, not that she believed it, and gave her the barest of nods.  
   
Kinley called out from behind her. "Dromos! You twisted little genius. You were right, the detective was waiting outside, probably just far enough from Lucifer to keep him invulnerable. Now that we are all here, the fun can begin."  
   
Dromos, who turned out to be possessing one of the corpses closest to Lucifer, beamed proudly. "I told you one didn’t go without the other. The Devil has been totally bewitched by that human, and he’d do anything to protect her, as would she."  
   
Kinley turned to Lucifer and added as an afterthought, "Oh! And if by any chances it turned out that your sister accompanied you, Lucifer, and is creeping up around as we speak, well, she better know that I’m only a fraction of a second from pulling that trigger. If she tries to pull on me the same thing she did on Squee, the Detective is as good as dead," he finished in a dangerous tone.  
   
Lilith took advantage of Kinley’s speech to give her own warning at the empty air around her. "I can say you’re here somewhere, Little Death. You know you can’t take me by surprise. Next time you try something on me, I won’t let you survive it. So think carefully before you take any action."  
   
Her evil gaze turned to Daniel who was now pointing his gun at the demons closest to him while trying to keep an eye on Chloe. "And I suggest that Detective Espinoza drops his weapon. We wouldn’t want an accident to happen, now would we?"  
   
Lucifer motioned for Daniel to obey. There was no chance to be taken with Chloe being held hostage and Dan seemed to agree since he immediately lowered his gun and threw it a small distance away from him.  
   
Having reached their level on the other side of the rows of benches, Kinley and Chloe stopped their progression and turned towards them. Kinley was chuckling madly again, his hands firmly clenched around his weapon and the detective’s waist.  
   
Lilith took another moment to bask in her victory before addressing Lucifer again. "Did you really think I wasn’t aware that you were coming for me? I saw that agent outside the church the moment I set foot in here. I was waiting for you and you didn’t disappoint me."  
   
All Lucifer wanted in that instant was to wipe Lilith’s infuriating little smile off her face, but Chloe was right, he had to be smart and gain time until he found a solution.  
   
"It’s me you want, Lilith. Let’s make a deal. You let go of them and I will return to Hell willingly."  
   
"Lucifer no! " screamed Chloe. Giving himself up certainly counted as a crazy act in her book.  
   
"No, no, no, no, no!" Lilith shook her index in front of herself. "I learned long ago not to make a deal with the Devil. You’re far too cleaver in that area. I won’t risk letting you find a loop hole and come back to bite me in the ass. No chances there. I need a long term solution to our problem."  
   
Always the dramatic one, Lilith let the silence last for a moment for better effect before stating her conditions.  
   
"Come to me without resistance Lucifer, and I will kill you as painlessly as possible. That’s the only deal I can offer you in exchange for your friends’ lives. But if you make it difficult...," Lilith let the threat hang in the air.  
   
Chloe watched Lucifer consider his options during an endless moment. She’d asked him to gain some time, but the perspective that he could really accept Lilith’s offer terrified her.  
   
When she saw him take a step towards Lilith, she snapped. "Nooo! Lucifer, please! Don’t do this!"  
   
"It’s the only way, Chloe," he said sadly, giving her only a tight smile before resuming his slow walk to the dais.  
   
"Maze, do something!" Chloe screamed at her in panic. She could feel Kinley tightening his hold around her in case she would attempt something.  
   
"Mazie will never take the Devil’s side over her Mother’s. Am I not right Darling?"  
   
Maze heard Lilith’s words and felt them vibrating inside her as if they were a command. She shook her head to try and clear off the fog clouding her mind. She wanted to fight it. It was just increasingly difficult to remember why she should.  
   
Chloe called to her urgently once more, begging her to do something, and this time Maze turned to look at her in the eyes. Chloe’s face was contorted by fear, a fear Maze could barely feel right now, but somehow, she knew that she too should be afraid for her friend and for Lucifer. She’d willingly chosen to follow Lucifer and keep protecting him those last years, as she had chosen to be friends with Chloe. Maze liked to believe that she’d acquired freewill to make her own decisions. So why couldn’t she anymore? Asking herself that question seemed to help diffuse the confusion in her brain.  
   
 _Something was wrong_ , _very wrong_.  
   
Maze gazed back at Lucifer who was walking to Lilith, _to his death_ , then she looked again at Chloe, who had a gun held against her head... Her friends were in danger and she was just staying there, doing nothing.  
   
The fear that had been out of her reach until now came back in a rush.  
   
She had to do something or Lucifer would die! And she wasn’t even sure Lilith would keep her promise to spare Chloe’s life if Lucifer surrendered. But what could she do? She knew it was vain to think she could fight her Mother even if she wanted to. The pull to obey her was still too strong for that, but not enough to stop her from helping her friends.  
   
"Lilith, stop!" Maze finally screamed.  
   
Her words froze Lucifer mid-step when he was just arriving on the dais, still a few feet away from Lilith.  
   
Lilith stared at her, looking half-intrigued half annoyed by the interruption.  
   
Even though she’d gotten her attention, Maze had little hope that her arguments could help change Lilith’s mind, but she could at least try. "It will never work out, Lilith, even if you kill Lucifer. Humans will fight you forever, with everything they have. They will never accept your tyranny."  
   
Lilith startled in surprise. "Who’s talking about tyranny?" Her demeanor and speech suddenly changed into those of a monarch. "I am not here to hurt them, but to humble humanity before me."  
   
With that statement, Lilith’s appearance slowly changed into her demonic one, her clothing being torn to pieces in the process. Once the change was over, she was looking as impressive and dangerous as Lucifer had in his full Devil’s form. Her demonic face could be considered as the female counterpart of the Devil’s, and her body was also quite similar with its red cracked skin and ridges. Her bath-like wings were also disturbingly resembling those of Lucifer. Maze had never made the parallel before, probably because she hadn’t seen Lilith in that form for at least a few thousands of years and that Lucifer’s full Devil appearance was only a recent development. Maze had no idea what the similarities could mean.  
   
Lilith’s voice boomed like a thunder through the church. "They will worship me more than God himself. It has all been written in the prophecy. I was foreseen to take my place here on Earth one day, and that day has come. You really think that the world is good as it is’ Mazikeen? Don’t be ridiculous! Look at all the souls ending up in Hell as punishment for their sinful lives. I will create a new world, and in the end God himself will have to agree that it was for the best."  
   
Maze shook her head in denial. "You are mistaking, Lilith. Demons can’t create, they can only destroy. You don’t belong in this world, go back to Hell where you belong."  
   
 _Demons can’t create..._  
   
The words rang inside Lucifer’s mind, and suddenly all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place.  
   
 _And he understood..._  
   
He understood why some demons were obeying Lilith instead of him and how she was able to come up here in the flesh. The enormity of the truth almost blew his mind.  
   
In that instant, Lucifer felt real hope rise in his heart.  
   
 _They didn’t need to fight. There was another solution..._  
   
Lucifer lifted his eyes slowly up to Lilith. The maelstrom of emotions he felt in that moment had to be evident for everyone to see, even for Lilith. Unfortunately, The Mother of Demons was not good at deciphering emotions in anyone, so of course she misinterpreted it.  
   
He saw Lilith flinch as if thinking that he was about to attack her. Then, too fast for him to stop her, she reached for something hidden on the altar behind a vase. He only had to get a glimpse of the object to realise with cold dread that everything was over. Because there was absolutely nothing he could do before he saw Lilith press the trigger, besides hoping that Chloe was far enough to survive the blast.  
   
Because he knew he wouldn’t...  
 

* * *

   
Kinley’s grip around Chloe had loosen while he was listening raptly at Lilith’s crazy speech about the prophecy and her future reign over Earth, and he now seemed transfixed by the sight of her demonic self. This was the moment Chloe had been waiting for all along and she hoped that Azrael would be ready to act when she did.  
   
Inspired by her successful prayer to Lucifer from earlier, Chloe sent a last second warning to his sister. Then, as Maze was arguing that Lilith should return to Hell, Chloe sprang into action.  
   
Pushing Kinley’s gun away from her head, she spin around out of his reach in the same movement. When she found herself facing him again, Kinley was still in the same position, his eyes wide with surprise. He tried to talk, but only a trickle of blood came out from the corner of his lips along with a burbling noise, then he was falling to the ground. Behind his now limp body was standing a furious Azrael with her celestial dagger held high and at the ready to take on any demons who might come into her path.   
   
But before the angel or she could do anything else, a loud explosion shook the church hard enough to send Chloe sprawling on the floor under a rain of debris.  
   
Chloe cough the dust out of her lungs and dragged herself up on trembling legs. She could hear the moans of the captives all around her who might now be even more injured from the blast. It was not them she was most worried about though, nor was it for herself, but for Lucifer who seemed to have been close to the source of the deflagration.  
   
With an increasing sense of panic, Chloe turned towards the dais where she last saw Lucifer standing, and her heart literally stopped beating...  
   
There was nothing anymore left standing on the dais, but a huge hole surrounded by mountains of debris. Part of a wall had even crumbled down under the shock.  
   
 _No, no, no, no! This couldn’t be happening!_  
  
 _"LUCIFER!"_ she screamed at the top of her lungs.  
   
When he didn’t answer, she screamed his name again, and again, and again, with increasing panic and terror. But nothing was moving among the debris and Lucifer was nowhere in sight.  
   
 _He couldn’t just be gone! It couldn’t end like that!_  
  
To add to the horror of the situation, Chloe suddenly saw Lilith rise slowly from a mountain of debris and spread her wings out mightily.  
   
True to herself, Lilith started laughing merrily, her voice sounding more cavernous in her demonic form.   
   
"I doubted that such a weapon would be of any use against the Devil, but Kinley was right, it worked splendidly. I should reward him for this great idea when he comes back in another body. Oh...!" and she turned towards a petrified Chloe, "I guess I should also thank you for making the Devil’s death possible, my dear." Her widening smile was showing rows of sharp demonic teeth. "However, I’m afraid you must die now..."  
   
"Kill the humans!" Lilith ordered her demons.  
   
For a fleeting moment, Chloe didn’t care in the least to be about to die. Lucifer was gone, back to Hell where he would be stuck for eternity alone. Nothing seemed important enough to overcome the horrifying knowledge that she would never see him ever again. What good was there to even try to fight back if he wasn’t there with her?  
   
But then, a scream shook her out of her spiralling descent into despair.  
   
"Decker! Move your ass!" Maze through at her from the other side of the church.  
   
In a daze, Chloe turned to her friend to see her fighting against two demons. Dan had already picked up his gun and was in the process of shooting at several possessed beings rushing towards him. Here and there, she saw Azrael blink into existence and dispose efficiently of the demons closest to Chloe in an attempt to protect her. The sight of her friends in danger brought her out of her torpor and forced her to take actions, if not for herself at least for them.  
   
Chloe picked up the gun that Kinley dropped a moment ago and started shooting at the closest demons who were apparently single minded on eliminating them now that Lilith gave the go.  
   
The realization that Lucifer was dead at Lilith’s hands shook Maze to her core. Whatever hold her Mother had over her disappeared instantly and she was free. Free to do as her conscience dictated her, and free to kill Lilith for what she had done...  
   
Maze swiftly made her way towards Lilith through the demons, leaving behind her a path of blood. Her Mother was standing on the only part of the dais still free of debris, overlooking excitedly the bloodbath that she was responsible for.  
   
"You would fight me, Daughter?" Boomed Lilith’s voice over the tumult.  
   
"I will do a lot more than that, _Mother_." Maze stressed out the title while she finished bashing a demon’s head against a bench. "I intent to kill you," she snarled with disdain.  
   
Clearly frustrated by this unpredicted turn of event, Lilith got into combat stance while waiting for Maze to reach her.  
   
Screams of fighting and gun shuts kept reverberating in the great hall behind her as Maze made her way to the dais. She could only hope that Azrael would keep protecting Chloe and even Dan, because there was nothing more important right now than stopping Lilith.  
   
The fight was going well for Chloe and her friends, thanks to Azrael and Maze who were taking out twice the numbers that Dan and she could manage with their guns. The group of demons was already down by half and none even came close to reach and harm them. The dozen hellish beings that remained had become weary and were now advancing towards Dan and her stealthily by staying hidden behind the numerous wooden benches, out of reach of their bullets. Though that wouldn’t keep them from being slain by Azrael’s celestial dagger.  
   
Chloe felt as if she were in a dream. It was too surreal thinking that Lucifer was really gone, and her heart was already crying out for him. Between two well aimed shots and a lot of uncontrolled sobbing, Chloe spared a glance towards Maze who was about to throw herself at The Mother of Demons. Chloe had no idea if her demonic friend had any real chances against Lilith, but prayed that she could stop her and avenge Lucifer’s death.  
   
Before Maze could jump at Lilith’s throat, she was stopped mid-stance by a thunderous voice.  
   
" _Stop it!_ " the inhuman voice bellowed.  
   
Not only did Maze stop her attack, but also everyone, humans and demons alike, and silence fell over the ravaged church.  
   
Chloe’s eyes, as well as everyone else’s, turned to the source of the voice to land on a bright angel, with his white wings still partially wrapped around himself protectively as he was getting out of the rubbles.  
   
Lucifer shrugged off the last bits of debris still clinging to him and straightened up fully. He spared a glance towards Chloe and winked at her in a way that seemed to be as much to reassure as to amuse her.  
   
The shock of seeing him alive was so great that a few shuddering sobs of relief burst out of Chloe’s throat. They were not out of the woods yet, but at least Lucifer was _alive_. How amazing was that? And now everything was possible once more, for the world, and for them...  
   
"You got to be kidding me! How can you even still be alive?" shot Lilith in utter exasperation. Turning towards him, she prepared herself to fight. She had been hoping to get rid of the Devil without risking her life, but that option didn’t seem to stand in the realm of possibilities anymore.  
   
Lucifer looked down on Lilith from his position on the other side of the hole left by the explosion. He considered her for a moment, as if weighting down his options. All the assembly seemed to be holding its breath, waiting for him to act.  
   
"I won’t fight you Lilith," he said calmly, deliberately ignoring her question about how he could still be alive.  
   
Lilith stared at him in disbelief. "Are you telling me that you’ll go back to Hell willingly?" She didn’t sound like she believed he would.  
   
"Not at all, but I may have a deal for you...," he offered enigmatically.  
   
"I already told you what I think of making a deal with the Devil," she answered with finality.  
   
Lucifer ignored her refusal and went on with his explanations as he walked slowly around the hole to get closer to Lilith. "You see, I had an epiphany of sort.  Maze was totally right when she said that demons can’t create. Only celestials can do it out of nothing."  
   
Lilith’s demonic eyes narrowed in confusion. "What are you trying to say? You make no sense Lightbringer."  
   
Lucifer came to a halt about two meters away from Lilith. "Oh I think it actually makes perfect sense. You, Lilith, are a celestial..."  
   
Lilith backed away from him as if the mere thought of what he was implying was repulsing her to no end. "You are mistaking," she accused shakily, "I am The Mother of Demons, the first of demons to have ever walked the hellish realm."  
   
"Yes, you are The Mother of Demons, but you are not one of them. Father did not turn you into a demon when he kicked you out of Heaven. He turned you into an angel, or something akin to it at least."  
   
Lilith’s foundations were slowly starting to crumble around her and she clang desperately to her truths. "Look at me!" she screamed in defiance. "Do I look like a freaking angel to you? Shouldn’t I have wings if I were one?"  
   
Lucifer shook his head patiently in negation. "Not necessarily. Think about me. My wings recently acquired a demonic appearance, along with my whole body when I was at last convinced that I was truly evil. I think that Father knew perfectly well that you already thought of yourself as evil when he threw you out. He needed you to create the hellish host, so He gave you the power to do so. Only, instead of making yourself appear in the purest form reserved for angels, your subconscious opted for a different appearance more fitting to what you knew you had become; _true evil_."  
   
"It can’t be..." Lilith’s words had become faint with a lack of conviction backing them. She was starting to believe that there might be some truth to Lucifer’s theory.  
   
Seeing that Lilith was not voicing more argument than that, Lucifer pursued with his reasoning. "You stayed in Hell all that time, not because you were locked up down there, but because you felt that it was your place. And you were right..."  
   
The way Lucifer said the last statement brought Lilith to stare at him in the eyes for what he was about to say next.  
   
Lucifer was wearing a look of utter bafflement as he continued. "Father never intended for me to rule Hell. It was supposed to be you all along..."  
   
They kept staring at each other for a long moment, trying to wrap their heads around what they now both believed to be true.  
   
"What about the prophecy?" Lilith finally mused aloud. "Was I not supposed to come here, on Earth to claim my rightful place?"  
   
"As with every bloody prophecies, we didn’t get that one correctly apparently..." Then Lucifer stilled his features and glared at her as the King of Hell that he still was. "Lilith!" his voice boomed with power. " _Do you claim your rightful place as Queen of Hell_?"  
   
Lilith’s red eyes brighten with understanding and excitement. She answered without hesitation, as solemnly as Lucifer had asked the question. " _I do._ "  
   
Lucifer let pass a few long seconds before letting his decision known. "If you swear that no more demons will ever come to Earth in the future, and that you will keep tending to the souls the way it has been done since the beginning of humanity, then I will abdicate and let you rule as you see fit."  
   
"I swear I will," she assured with fervor.  
   
"But," Lucifer lifted his index in warning. "Break your vow and I will remove you from the throne myself. Do we have an understanding?"  
   
"Yes we do."  
   
"Then Hell is yours," Lucifer bowed his head in acknowledgement of her new status, "your Highness."  
   
Lilith stayed silent and still for a long moment, as if trying to make sense of what just happened, before she beamed and laughed joyously.  
   
 She looked at him in wonder. "You are an incredible creature, Lucifer Morningstar."  
   
With that, she turned towards the great hall and addressed her demons. "Come on boys, time to go home."  
   
The remaining demons departed instantly and the bodies they had been possessing for the past few days fell limply to the ground as one.  
   
Lilith turned to Lucifer one last time. "I look forward to never see you again, Lightbringer. Have a happily ever after. I know I will," she smiled crookedly.  
   
Lucifer simply gave her a small nod of farewell and then she was gone.  
   
For a moment, no one dared to disturb the silence that had settled in the church, not even the stunned humans who had witnessed the inconceivable.  
   
A bit stunned himself and still trying to make sense of what he just did, Lucifer looked down at his friends. Maze’s lower jaw was still hanging slack from shock, yet with a little wicked smile at the corner; Dan had a look of utter bafflement –Lucifer even wondered if the Douche understood anything that happened–; Azrael was just smiling at him in happiness; and Chloe...  
   
Lucifer locked eyes with her, and everything made sense once more. Everything he did had a sense, and above all else, the sense was _her_.  
   
A vibrant happiness took a hold of him and he smiled, the most relieved and joyous smile he ever formed in his entire existence.  
   
Lucifer saw and heard Chloe chuckle happily through her tears before she dashed up the stairs to joins him.  
   
She crashed into him and hugged his body as tightly as possible while Lucifer wrapped his arms and wings around her tenderly. He gave her a lingering kiss over her hair then rested his head against hers. Closing his eyes, he allowed himself to bask in the feel of completeness that washed over him. His place was by her side and now everything was possible... His heart was literally bursting with joy.  
   
Chloe was still shaking and crying softly, her tears having changed from ones of deep devastation to tears of relief and hope.  
   
"How?" She finally managed to ask once her tears had dried out. "How can you still be alive when I was mere feet away from you?" She looked up at him in incomprehension, while at the same time displaying the most loving smile ever. "You should have died..."  
   
Lucifer gazed back at her adoringly and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear to better see her amazing blue eyes. "You being a miracle might not have as much to do with my vulnerability as I liked to believe. As I already suspected, but didn’t really want to believe, it was well and truly I who was the cause of this vulnerability, but not for the reason I thought. I first believed that I became vulnerable around you because I fell in love with you. In spite of all the proofs that supported that, I couldn’t believe that something as beautiful as loving you could hurt me. But now I understand. It was not exactly loving you that made me vulnerable, but the fact that I always felt that my love for you _was_ a vulnerability, a _weakness_. Not anymore. For after having surrendered myself completely to you, after having made the choice to love you with everything I am, now I see my love for you as a strength, and so it has become one."  
   
Chloe’s smile widen even more. She wasn’t sure to understand everything about his theory, and yet she could relate entirely about the surrendering part of it, because she loved him utterly and completely, without any restraint nor doubt, and she also believed that this amazing love was making her stronger.    
   
"I guess that’s a good thing then," she teased a bit.  
   
Lucifer chuckled merrily while nuzzling her cheek softly. "A very good thing indeed," he whispered hotly.  
   
The pull of kissing him was becoming so strong that it was almost dizzying. But before indulging into it, Chloe wanted to set her mind to rest completely, even if she already suspected what his answer would be. At least she hoped she knew.  
   
She spoke softly with her lips brushing lightly against his. "And now that you are no more the King of Hell, what does that mean for us?" She was allowing herself to hope, to dream...  
   
He answered as softly as she had spoken, his eyes never leaving hers. "You asked me for a night together. What about a lifetime?"  
   
Chloe bit her lower lip and smiled roguishly. "That sounds like a good start."  
   
They both chuckled in blissful happiness under the protective cocoon created by Lucifer’s wings, until the pull to kiss each other became too strong to resist anymore. They came together in a mind blowing kiss full of love and promises.  
   
They continued kissing passionately, totally oblivious to the chaos around them.  
   
Chloe truly believed in her words; it was just the beginning, for they both knew that their love would never end and that they would be together for at least a lifetime...

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can barely believe that this story came to its end. I can only hope that I could surprise you agreeably and that you feel satisfied with this ending. Please let me know if you loved it and if you liked my crazy idea about Lilith being a celestial. Thanks to all of you for following this story and a special thank you for all of those who left me kudos and comments. Those always make me so proud and happy :)
> 
> I will now return to write «Back from the Shadows», and will be able to update more often this story now that I won’t be working on two of them at the same time. Yeah!
> 
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